It has been a long road I have been on with my mental health. It has taken some time to accept what my needs are. I need to recognize what is normal in life and when something isn’t normal for me. It’s important to call attention to these moments. Taking care of myself is crucial for daily living. This includes adherence to my mental health medications. Mistakes and things do happen. It is important to pick myself back up. Getting back on track matters.

I have taken a long time to realize something important. It is essential to be medication compliant. I must do what is best for me each and every day. I did not care for my mental health. I believed that I was fine. I did not understand that I was hurting myself. I was making pointless and destructive decisions. These decisions were causing fear and concern in others. This was happening repeatedly. Even though I was not seeing it, others were noticing it. They were calling our attention to it. Yet, I did not want to listen for one reason or another.

Then when I was not honest about caring for it, others realized that I was not myself. I needed to understand that others noticed when I was not myself. That recognition made them scared and concerned about my safety when I was not. The disease was being destructive. I couldn’t see what was happening. It was setting me up for a breakdown if not reversed to be better. I had to let go of what I wanted to believe about things. I started to see that there was no harm in doing all I needed to do. I followed the orders given to me just as they were.

It also took knowing what was normal and what was not. One of the biggest challenges in that arena was recognizing what was really going on with me. Then, I struggled with not being honest about it. I had learned that dishonesty was a sin. I wanted to be a better Christian in 2026. It took being real about myself. I needed to understand what is normal versus what is not. It also required doing what it takes to live fully. I understood that I needed to care for myself by recognizing all the signs. Those signs had set me up in the past, and would have appeared again if I hadn’t changed. Making destructive decisions was a pattern I had to break. Things had been proven to work when I was honest with myself. It took being real about myself and my mental health.

I eventually realized what was normal. I never wanted to go down that road again. While things can happen, it takes understanding and knowledge to do what is right, even if you don’t want to. I knew how important it was to do what was needed. I also realized the difference it made from when I wasn’t doing it. It was knowing what was not only needed but what was normal too.