There has come a time in my life that I finally get that there needs to be the understanding that I need to do things to take care of me so I can live my life in the best way possible. This means that I need to take care of myself more than the average person and that is okay. There should be no shame in putting my needs before anyone else.

For most of the first six years of living on my own, I have ignored the need to care for myself. Whether that has been in the regards of taking my medicine or getting quality sleep along with eating properly, I have just disregarded in a big sense of what taking care of myself really looks like. I must understand that because of my challenges that I need a little more tender loving care than everyone else and that doing so does not make me any less of a person. That is just the way that it is, and it is perfectly normal for me to do what is necessary, even if there are humans that are not in the same mindset that I am in.

I am an early riser, therefore, to get adequate sleep, it is imperative that I go to bed at a decent hour, so I am well-rested the next day and ready to conquer the day ahead. For a long time, I felt guilty about going to bed so early, but to be the human being that everyone expects me to be, then I must take care of myself by going to bed in adequate time to start the next day off right. There is nothing in this world that I am going to miss out on by being a night owl, although there is the feeling of thrill when I do not medicate in order to sleep, but doing so never proves well for me and no matter how many times I have tried this venture, the same old thing keeps repeating itself over and over again.

Therefore, it is important that I do the right thing and take care of myself so I can live the best life. For decades prior to me moving on my own, things went mostly well, and the medication was the common denominator in ensuring that I was as well as I could be and living my best life. I had this belief that because it was my parents that were ensuring that I take my medication that it was a form of them controlling me to be the person that I wanted. However, I had to discover that it is something that has been proven to work and is a crucial tool in my mental health recovery and therefore should not be tampered with anymore because nothing good ever comes out of doing so.

I have been down a long road in the past six years, and I am at a point where I hopefully finally conceptualize that there are needed to stay well. My psychotropic medication is one of those things in an arsenal of tools that I necessary, especially as things in the daily milieu are continually challenging or uncertain and if I am not well could send me off into a situation that I would not want to be in.

I deserve to live my best life and even though it may seem kind of lame for one reason or another it is my life, and I am doing well in it. As one psychiatrist said in an appointment with my parents and I some time ago, “why would you want to rock the boat if everything is going well.” As abnormal is not the same and I am living my best life as I can be. Sometimes it is important to just be grateful for that in life and not continually be in a volatile state of uncertainty. I may have my challenges, but one thing I have going for me is my common sense and that is doing what I need to continue to do to take care of myself and live my life as best as possible by taking care of myself every day. Always.