Over the past year, there have been so many changes, yet I have made some changes to my lifestyle that I had previously never thought that I would have been able to make. Sometimes in life, you just get the wake up call you need to start to make the changes that you need to better your lifestyle, and that I had this week. I know I can do what I need to do, because I have done other things that I would have never done for decades.

One of the biggest things over the past year was the need to eliminate caffeinated beverages from my diet. The first sign was last April when I had a severe meltdown at day services after drinking an excessive amount of sweet tea, therefore I started to not drink sweet tea. The latter came after my first relapse 11 months ago that when it was told to me that eliminating caffeine would assist in reducing some of my behaviors, I believe that I was so scared from my manic episode and that I had nothing else to do but recover from the crash and burn that I experienced, that I seen no other option after nearly two decades to start to make things right once and for all.

Its not like I haven’t tried to forgo caffeinated beverages before, but I never saw the difference between having it and not and also being so terrified of how I was both instances last year that I know that things are so much better than what they were when I was careless about my beverage choices. It was also the beginning of where I educated myself on my mental health condition and neurodegenerative difficulties that allowed me to see the impact of caffeine and my behavior and therefore, I have made choosing decaffeinated beverages more of a priority.

The need to do what I need to do would have occurred two months ago when it was brought to my attention that those in authority over me were concerned about my mental wellbeing. For most of the six years, I would become discouraged by these words and would continue to mask what I was not doing to care for myself because I thought I knew more about myself than what everyone else was doing.

But everyone knew all along when things were not right, and that is when I started to listen more to what those in my support system told me about the need to adhere to my medication requirements and I am proud to say that for six weeks I have adhered to my medication requirements. It was such a happy moment when I knew that I completed the entire box of medication without disregarding any of them and making my mental health treatments my priority.

But alas came this week’s discovery that I have cavities in my teeth and that it will be some time until they can be addressed, therefore I realize that while I do live a caffeine free lifestyle, I need to take it a step further and work at having no soda as I feel that it has been the culprit of the deterioration of my teeth in the several years of not caring for my oral health, now in addition to working on even better beverage choices, I also need to make my oral health a priority by working on brushing my teeth frequently by best practices.

I know I can make the changes because I think of all the changes that I have made in the past year by eliminating things and understanding many changes including a new workplace location, changes in my transportation and direct supervision at work. There have been so many changes in the past year, and I am starting to learn that changes can be a good thing, as evidenced by how well I am doing.

So, while those of my neurotype may not enjoy making changes that they need to sometimes change is evident, necessary and can be a good thing if you allow it to be seen in that light. It is not that you do what the rest of the world does, or you have it because you have access to something, you do what you need to do because it is for your benefit.

Initially, you may believe that you can make the changes that you need to make, but it is important to give things a chance to work out and realize if they are changes that you can live with or need to tweak to better meet your needs, but if you want to, you will keep at it and do what you need to do to live the way that you want to.