I have been taught over the course of the past decade or so that it is important to make memories with your loved ones when you can before it is too late. That didn’t resonate with me more than it did a few weeks ago over the Easter holidays as my father has been home for a month now after nearly a year away at many facilities while attempting to get care for his injury he sustained last May. It was also important that I was my best self not only for me but also for the family so we could make the best memories that we could.

Throughout the past decade or so, family events have been sort of a shamble for me. Easter has to be one of those especially in 2020 when we were contained to our own family unit amid a COVID lockdown, and I was not taking my medication at the time. It was one of the worst that in fact my therapist had to intervene, and it resulted in a pretty severe meltdown. There have been many other holidays that things weren’t the best and it was made known that I caused a ruckus at every function.

Being that my father is now mostly homebound and needs constant care of my mother and a few others, it is important to make the best memories that I can. Part of that means that I need to be responsible and do what is right to care for myself. While I am widely accepted by my family for my challenges, there is certainly no need to make things more challenging as I have done in the past. It means that I must be the responsible adult that I need to be by doing what I need to do to be the best self I can be and make the memories that I need to make with my loved ones while I still have the opportunity to do so.

We as human beings are never promised the ability to do the things we are able to do forever. My father has always been the one to say that one needs to do things while they still have the opportunity to do them. Unfortunately, that was cut short for him last year, and has hit more of a sentiment that I do need to do more to make the memories that I need to make with him and others in my family along with making them the best that they can be by always being my best in means that I am taking care of myself and being cognizant of my triggers and mental state so things can be addressed in a timely manner and not be as drastic as they have been in the past.

Alas, as we enter what is widely known as Mental Health Month, it is important to realize that the way that we take care of ourselves is something that can also have an effect on others around us and also make a reflection of how we are perceived in other worlds beside our own. In a where there is so much stigma about mental health challenges, it is up to us that are able to manage our condition and be in sort of a remission to be continuously cognizant of the dangers of not doing so or knowing when triggers arise how to best avoid them, but overall it is about knowing that taking care of our mental health can go a long way in making situations when we interact with others more pleasant.