Introduce yourself to yourself, you never know you just might like each other.

I wrote in my journal a few years ago - “Introduce yourself to yourself, you never know you just might like each other”. It's an odd notion that at some point in your life you have sit down with yourself, say hello and work out who you are. People spend their whole lives getting to know other people but many don't take the time to get to know themselves.

When you are diagnosed with a mental illness the relationship that you have with yourself is shattered, even if you have taken the time to get to know yourself. To be told that your future is decided and that you are now ruled by your illness, and that a schizophrenic is who you are, is demoralising. All the work and personal development that you have achieved is negated and you are told that you are now ruled by your illness. The power and pride that you once had is taken away from you in an instant. You are told that you have to take this medication for the rest of your life and that you will never achieve anything you had hoped for.

The self that you were once good friends with becomes your arch enemy and you spend your days battling, battling yourself, chasing your tail in a whirlwind that teeters on the brink of disaster. You fight yourself, you fight to defeat yourself, you fight to get yourself back and you fight so that yourself doesn't take over. You become afraid of yourself, you become afraid to trust yourself and you become afraid to be yourself, and you never, ever, want to sit down, introduce yourself to yourself and get to know each other.

Early on hope puts up a good fight, it comes and goes with the episodes. It fights back only to be defeated, but even hope can only handle so many beatings and soon it too, retreats into the darkness. With hope goes self-esteem and you lose track of yourself you succumb to the fact, that if you can't win the game, then why bother playing. Because let me tell you, it's not the type of game you play simply for the enjoyment.

If you can't win the game why would you bother making the tough decisions, why would you bother making sacrifices. Is it any wonder that people relapse, is it any wonder that people do the right things for a while then slip back into bad habits. If you're going to lose anyway why would you bother playing your heart out. The result has already been decided.

Without the power and the pride, you lose hope and without hope life lacks meaning.

Power and pride is stripped from people labelled mentally ill, the power to change oneself is taken away and in an instant so is hope. Without choices and free direction, life becomes meaningless and there is no motivation.

But, consider this, its sounds crazy, but just consider it for a minute.

What if you were told you would recover, if you told that your illness could be effectively managed or even cured. If you were told that mental illness is not a life sentence and your future is not set in stone. If you were told that if you did the right things, made the tough decisions and stuck to your game, that you would recover, you could win the game and the result has not been decided, not by a long shot. Hang on, is that hope beginning to emerge, is that a future I can see, is this new feeling motivation and power. All of a sudden you have options. The result is in your hands, and you can win this game. You can choose to run around in circles for the rest of your life or you can take back control, take back the power, stay the course and one day recover.

In an instant you can take back the power.

Once you grasp this notion and fully embrace it, you will begin to see hope, because within each of us lies the power to change, the power to change ourselves. That is the most powerful realisation anyone can have.

I know to many that sounds crazy, but it's crazy enough that it just might work.

Power and Pride are not something that you can be given they are something that you must take and taking one leads to taking the other.

I no longer hide my illness, I am no longer afraid to tell the story of my treatment, because I don't feel ashamed to have a mental illness. I am proud to have a mental illness. I am damn proud that I have recovered and manage my schizophrenia on a daily basis.

You should be proud of the fact that you can live with a mental illness and still carry on each day and it is something that people should admire you for.

It's a crazy idea that someone with a mental illness should take pride in themselves and its even crazier that you should be proud to have a mental illness. You are told the exact opposite from the day that you are diagnosed.

But why shouldn't you be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished. You should be proud that you are a survivor, a survivor of mental illness.

What I went through was hell and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, but I wouldn't change it for the world, because it has made me who I am, and I am damn proud of that.

You should be proud too. You shouldn't be afraid to talk about your illness. You should be proud to tell people about your illness, about your journey and about your recovery.

Power and pride, hope and passion, the game's not over until you say it's over and you will decide the result ……. You 1, Mental Illness 0.