10 Ways to Stay Active when You Have a Mental Illness

When you have a mental illness, the function of your brain, your spirit, your body, and mind, leaves you. You are unable to concentrate, you are unable to think for yourself, and depending on the severity of the diagnosis, you do not know the difference between right and wrong or fantasy and reality. However, when you are given the right medications along with intense therapy, you can overcome the odds, but these ways can only do so much there are other things that mental illness robs you of, and I want to show you how to stay active, educated, happy, and stress-free with these tips on how to live with a mental illness on a day-to-day basis.

10. Begin/Continue to keep yourself groomed. When you are fighting with a mental illness, you do not feel like bathing, brushing your teeth, or getting out of bed. You are sick with psychosis, paranoia, and fear. However, when you begin to feel better, the thing you need to do is to start or continue bathing, brushing your teeth, and getting your hair done. When a woman or man, has a fabulous hairdo, or a nice, clean, cut shave you feel like a million bucks. Buy yourself some well-fitting clothes, which can be purchased at Family Dollar, Walmart, Dollar General, Fred's or Target, if you have a low-income, and you can be styling and having a better self-esteem for your new self-image.

9. Try to Read Poetry/Do Find-A-Word. If you like to do educational things to stir your mind before you got diagnosed with a mental illness, the best thing I thought of was to read poetry or do find-a-word puzzles. The reason I chose to read poetry, because even if you do not know what it means, you can buy poetry books on faith, family, love, and these simple sentiments will give you a good temporal feeling that will build as you meditate on their meaning. If poetry is not your thing, but you like games, then do find-a-words or Sudoku games, and these jumbo words puzzle books will keep you busy and your mind alert; healing in and of itself.

8.Watch Comedy Movies/TV. Every now and then everyone needs a good laugh. When you are not able to smile, or you get up one morning, and you feel your depression hovering over you, I recommend watching Everybody Hates Chris, Jerry Springer, The Golden Girls, or Maury to tickle your funny bone. These shows play on many of the Fox channels if you like me and have only a converter box, you can watch Jerry everyday. The point is, to make your life humorous even if you have a mental illness. You have to think of ways in your life not to sit and worry about your illness. This is another way to do this.

7.Socialize with Positive People. When I went to the hospital this month, my therapist told me to begin to socialize because that was what I lacked in my daily wellness plan. So, since she helped me to stay positive with my mental illness, I want to instill in you guys, my readers, that even if you do not have a mental illness, negative people can bring you down fast. It is hard to learn how to read people, but my experience is you can learn them fast if you watch what they do, their actions, and not always listen to their words, because this may conflict. Meeting people who are real, and who are going to be real with you is hard, but if they are positive, have something good going on in their lives, they can help motivate you on those days when you just do not feel everything is going right. Dissociating yourself with negative people is a must because having a mental illness, your mind feeds on negativity, which brings stress, and you do not need anymore stress in your life. Change the people you are around to people who are really there for you, and who learn to understand your mental illness; and the things you are going through.

6. Learn your diagnosis. I was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder in 2001, I learned many aspects of my illness that made me understand why I have voices the way I do, and the type of delusional thoughts that I have as well. Learning about what your illness is can help you overcome it a lot because you will be able to recognize why you hear voices, why you always feel sad, why you are being treated with certain medications, and so on. If you do not understand why you have a mental illness, you should ask your therapist to print out what your diagnosis is, and go over it with you; explaining what hallucinations are, how to tell the difference between what is your thoughts, and what is an hallucination, how to know when you are being faced with suicidal hallucinations, and how to handle this. I begin to pray and then I focus on something else, right before the voices flare up and get really bad, I get up and watch TV, or I go outside, listen to music, but before I knew to shake off when I heard a voice I could not recognize the voices from real life. Start to know what all the mental health terms mean, and how to recognize when they manifest in your life.

5. Get out of the house. Having a mental illness, you tend to withdraw from the rest of the world, and you tend to only sit in the house, in the bed, worrying about how sick you feel. This will not help your mind to heal, getting out of that bed, going out the door, and feeling the sunshine on your face can really help you. I feel so sorry for those in the snow ridden areas, now, but even they can make artificial light with lamps, to get the outdoor feeling. When you are able to go outside, go for a walk, and make sure your family knows where you are going. Go to the library, go buy a soda, and walk back, talk to friends you pass on the street, go to a park and sit and watch people going about their day. My uncle used to sit and park, he and his girlfriend, and just watch people, and see if they can guess what is going in their lives. Many mental health facilities have Clubhouse, where you are picked up everyday, and you actually go and socialize with other people at a designated building. My Clubhouse is called Caring and Sharing, and many aspects I like because it fosters socializing and making friends. Doing this will help take your mind off your problems, and will help you to feel even better dealing with your illness.

4. Go to church. Having faith in God or your own Higher Power is crucial when you want to overcome any illness. I know most mentally health patients say God talks to them, but I do not believe that. God comforts you by making you feel better. I say this because with hallucinations you can confuse the voice of God with something that is really a hallucination. I think that reading the 23rd Psalms or the Lord's Prayer; can really comfort your spirit when you are going through emotional stress. Having a pastor that explains Scriptures is crucial also, because you won't get confused in your own interpretation that may be off base to what the true meaning of what the passage is saying. Having a church that is supportive, friendly, and cooperative is great, and this can send your spirit soaring higher than you've ever imagined.

3. Learn to sew/read. I know men who are mentally ill probably do not sew, but most like to read I'm sure. If you had problems with reading take a small literacy class, and learn to read again. If you used to like making things, buy a needle/thread kit, and get quilting. Being creative and learning new things always freshen the spirit because it makes you feel motivated to be more than just a diagnosis on a chart.

2. Get rest/take meds. After all these things I've mentioned, mentally ill patients still have to get rest and take their meds, this is the top priority. However, balance even your sleep time, and pay attention if your doctor is overmedicating you. If you sleep all day, and all night, you probably are being overmedicated. Check with your doctor, tell him what you are doing daily on your next visit, and write these things down, so you will not forget to tell your psychiatrist, so he can adjust your medicines.

1. Pray all the time. Prayer is basically talking to God. I recommend this to everyone, not just mentally ill patients. Even if you are not able to read or understand the Bible, just talk to God and praise Him for your life, and how He got you this far in your battle with your mental illness. Pray when you feel you are getting upset, say in your mind or aloud, "Lord have mercy on me." Or "Lord Help Me." This is so crucial because the medicines and therapy can only do so much; you have to stay prayed up, to really get through this type of illness.

A mental illness robs your most important organ your brain. The function of your brain becomes distorted and confused, but it does not have to stay that way. The medicinal world has came a long way in mental health, and many medicines like Zoloft, Trilifon, Effexor, and Abilify can relieve you of many of your symptoms. However, the other aspect is staying on that road to recovery by changing your lifestyle and habits that keep you in a depressed and psychotic cycle. These steps can help anyone suffering with a mental illness, or who just wants to become educated so that will not become mentally ill. This also can help you be aware of how they can help themselves, and their families when faced with a turbulent mental diagnosis.