Unbroken

For a long time, I felt like I was broken inside and if I'm being honest there are times I still do. But this is a representation of what recovery mean to me. Putting all the pieces back together and accepting the cracks.

While it may not be noticeable, the mask was cut apart, glued back together and stitched with green thread (the color for mental health recovery and the only pre-planned color choice in the piece.)

Understanding recovery can be difficult. According to the Oxford Dictionary recovery is defined as:

1.    a return to a normal state of health, mind or strength

2.    the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost

During Certified Peer Specialist training recovery was defined as: the process of gaining control over one’s life – and the direction one wants that life to go – on the other side of a psychiatric diagnosis and all of the losses associated with that diagnosis

 Looking over both definitions the key words/phrases that stick out to me is the idea of regaining control over something that was lost.  There have been times where I’ve felt like I was broken inside.  Living in recovery, for me, is learning how to embrace the chaos of life in order to regain control over my thoughts and emotions instead of letting them control me.

One of the things that has helped is learning that the various diagnoses I’ve received throughout my life don’t define me.  They are simply a part of what makes me who I am.  The difficulty lies is finding ways to help others recognize the same thing.