6 years ago my life changed forever. To be fair, 9 years ago is when my life actually changed forever after a traumatic event, but I was in denial and 6 years ago my denial and avoidance finally caught up to me.

6 years ago I found myself in inpatient for the first time and I was diagnosed with Bipolar 1, PTSD, GAD, Panic Disorder and OCD. Realistically speaking just one of these diagnosis (or any diagnosis) could change a person’s life and I was Diagnosed with 5 different mental disorders at once. On top of that I was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation of the brain within a month of those diagnosis. That was enough for me to loose any sense of who I was before this. I didnt just loose who I was before the diagnosis, I also believed that I was now my diagnosis. I believed I was mentally sick , I believed I wasn’t your typically “human” , I believed that this was my new life and I believed I could never be a “normal” functioning human being again.

To say this literally didn’t control my life would be understatement. It was my life. I believed that in order for those people in my life to understand me they would have to put it in the effort to understand my diagnosis and why I was the way I was and did the things I did. Not that I had to put in more effort, other people had to. I believed I had lost all control of my emotions. That it wasn’t me making these terrible decisions or hurting those around me who loved me and were just trying to help and understand me. I believed it was my mental illness causing all of this. I identified as my diagnosis. I became bipolar instead of having bipolar.

Do you see the difference in the framing of words?

I believe many people become their diagnosis. Whether it’s a mental or physical diagnosis, it inevitably changes most people’s lives.

I’m starting to see this everywhere. With the people I communicate with, family friends, clients, online forms, support groups etc people who have a “problem” become their problem.

In the last 10 years I have struggled with migraines, weight gain, weight loss, cyst on my ovaries, irregular menstrual cycle, arthritic like pain, lower back issues, neck pain, swelling of my limbs, mental health issues, heart problems, galbladder problems, shingles, kidney stones and that’s just off the top of my head. I believed that my body was always hurting and I had chronic pain. I would tell people I had chronic pain even if they didnt ask. I had the mentality that weird and/or bad things always happened to me, though my medical history does show that, I also believe it was because of the narrative I kept telling myself.

Studies show that many 26 year olds dont get shingles but here I am. Just because that happened doesn’t mean I am weird or my body hates me. It does remind me of how unhealthy of a lifestyle I was living. With self medicating to numb myself plus all the medication I was getting from my psychiatrist, neurologist, gastroenterologist there is no wonder I was a mess. I was taking so many medications that of course my body couldnt heal itself naturally the way our bodies our designed too. I couldn’t think straight or properly because of all the medications I was on to alter my thoughts and change my mood.

As a society we are way to comfortable with taking medications, mixing medications with alcohol or other addictive things, and assuming that a doctor really does know what’s best for us. Especially people who meet with a doctor once or twice for 20 minutes and assume that doctors knows all about them and their conditions. I’ve believed so many different things the doctors were telling me just because I felt validated in that there was actually something wrong with me. When in fact, I know myself more than those doctors know me and there’s something to be said for that. But only by becoming self aware was I able to come to this realization.

I am here to say that I believe that this all needs to change. If I listened to my doctors, I would still be a medicated person who I am positive would still be living pay check to paycheck at my parents house and self medicating to help my emotional and physical pain. I’d be complaining that I have no money and that life is terrible when in fact if I stopped spending my money on drugs and alcohol and focused more about why I was feeling the way I was feeling and my physical health; I wouldn’t be in the place I was.

I believe the only way as a society we can change and become better is through self awareness. We need to realize that the thoughts we think dictate our lives. The food we feed ourselves can determine our moods and health conditions. The medicine we trust to help make us feel better are generally just a bandaid and a toxic one at that. That the alcohol we drink effects our moods for days and how we treat others and also how we feel about ourselves.That the caffeine we put in our bodies is overall hurting them even, maybe not now, but it definitely is affecting your heart. That the tv we watch to turn off our brains at night is filling our heads with unrealistic expectations and unrealistic desires to be like other people or have more materialistic things.

We need to become more self aware in every aspect of our lives. We need to be aware of what we are putting in our bodies; mentally, physically and emotionally. We need to realize our actions affect us as well as others. We need to become aware that every action has a reaction; it’s in your control.

Self awareness I believe is the key to living an authentic intentional happy and peaceful life. Without being self aware we continue down the same paths that hurt us and hurt others.

My goal, going forward, is to help people become more self aware so we have less damaged people in our world thinking that their lives suck or their stuck living the way they are because that’s just how it’s been.

Your thoughts determine your life. If you think your sick, you become sick. If you think your life sucks, your life will suck. If you think your going to have a bad day, you are going to have a bad day. If you think like is wonderful, you are going to look for the small things that make you smile. If you think more happy thoughts, you become more happy.

Choose wisely because it really is as simple as that.

With love, Krista