Life is all about choice. The choice whether to point out the negative in each situation or the choice to make the best of each situation. There have been many situations that I have faced in my life that I did not want to happen or that I did not agree with, but unfortunately had to let them play out. However, in those situations that I did not want to be in, I had to learn to make the best of it so there could be the potential to return to some sense of normality.

One of the worst situations was the summer when I was the worst. Puberty was at its worst and my behaviors were out of control. In the summer between eighth and ninth grade, I had been admitted to the psychiatric hospital four times and my parents had to put their feet down and seek more intensive care for me beyond what they were able to do. It was something that I did not want to hear or believe, but they were at their wit’s end, and they did not know how to manage me, but one thing they knew was that they could not just push me away.

So, through the work of one of my professionals on my mental health team at the time, they and my mother went in search of a placement. Some were ok, some were not the greatest but the one that I ended up at was the one that they did work in earnest to get me into. My parents had to do some rough advocacy work in a way that is not seen in today’s world. There was talk of people in the corporate office going from room to room to find the director of the placement and eventually it became secure in a time when it never seemed possible to do so.

At that moment when my parents had picked up from my last psychiatric hospital stay over two and a half decades ago, with a brief stop for lunch to the facility. Little did I know that it would be some time before I would see them again. Eventually, I had to learn to know that I  had to do what I was expected of and follow the goals that were set forth for me to return home to my family. I was in a unique situation where I had to follow orders and there were expectations to be met and if they were met, things could be worse. There would be no family visits, etc. But I knew that I had to learn the hard way, with the right help of medication of what was expected of me in the home setting, and eventually that was attained to the point that I could go home. Even though that facility is used as office space now, I sometimes get the privilege to ride by it and see it. I remember how much it saved my life and started to get me back in the right direction from a direction which could have had me in a much worse position.

Ultimately, it was my parents and one team member on the mental health team back then that got me the help that I needed and allowed me to see that if I did choose to make the best of the situation that was handed to me, things could turn out in my favor for the better.