I'll Be Okay: Depression, Self Harm etc. Recovery Book

The First Step

Disclaimer: I'm not here to hold your hand through this. I'm not here to do all the work. I'm simply a guide. Don't be blind enough to follow me every step of the way. Be smart enough to see what you think will work for you. So yeah just saying I'd appreciate not being sued if what I'm suggesting doesn't work for you.

The first step to recovering from any kind of mental illness is acceptance. I've spoken to several people who are facing demons but who can't see it. If you can't see your demons, you can't fight them. If you don't know they're there how are you supposed to banish them? Face up to them. Are you sad? Like so sad it constantly consumes you? Do you want to die? Do you like hurting yourself? Do you skip meals to be skinny? Do you throw up food in hopes of reaching the perfect figure? Do you get panicky in social situations? Do you put yourself down constantly? Do you hate yourself? Do you convince yourself that everyone hates you? Do you hear voices in your head telling you to do stuff, stupid stuff? Do you feel like a different person, detached from who you used to be?

If you said yes to any one of those questions then you need to face up to reality. None if those things I just described are normal. If you said yes to any one of those questions you then need to fix it. I can't do it for you. You need to fix it until you can confidently read through the paragraph saying no to every single question.

This is the first step. You need to open your eyes to the demons standing in front of you, clawing at your flesh, lurking behind you in the shadows. They're there. And they're not going away on their own. They're like leeches, they latch onto you, draining you of life. And they're not going away on their own.