August Mental Health Collection and Writing Prompt —The Crumbling Road to Recovery
“I should be able to do this by myself.”
“I was in such a good place. What happened?”
“Why can’t I just get better and stay better?”
If any of these thoughts seem familiar to you, then we have something in common. Anyone who’s attempted recovery has likely had similar thoughts at some point. The problem is that the road to recovery is often unclear, usually winding, and most of the time washed out in places. You can’t get there with a map, and once you’ve found it, it might disappear or stretch further into the distance like a mirage. And you’re left standing in an open expanse of space, turning 360 degrees, arms outstretched, wondering what just happened.
We’ve all been there, at some time and in some way.
Recovery in the World
So many of our beloved public figures are recovering in some way or another. I have some close relatives who are in recovery, and chances are you do, as well. Individual recovery is amazing. It’s important. But what we are lacking in the world today is a collective reflection on our behavior and how it affects those around us. Some of us don’t realize it; some of us do but don’t care. Either way, individualism and narcissism are rearing their ugly heads today in a way I have never before seen (at least not so publicly).
I saw a quote the other day that resonated with me SO MUCH. I will paraphrase:
If, a few months or years from now, it comes out that masks aren’t necessary and don’t help keep people healthy by stopping the spread of the coronavirus, then maybe I’ll feel a bit silly for wearing one. But I’ll be okay with that because I know my motivation was to contribute to the health and safety of my brothers and sisters. If, however, it comes out that masks are indeed effective at stopping the spread of the virus and have saved millions from being infected and suffering serious complications or even death, how will you feel because you refused to wear one?
The simple message here: When your behavior comes from a place of love and care for someone outside yourself, at the very least, it doesn’t hurt. At the most, it leaves the world better than you found it.
Please, please — as individuals, and as a collective, choose your actions accordingly and do all you can to inspire others to do the same.
Recovery in Messy Mind
We’ve got many stories about recovery’s long, winding and broken path. Here are just a few from the last month.
Damian Paul talks this month about how he uses sleep hygiene to get back on course when his hypomania begins creeping up. Drew Ford and Franzy Elena discuss how just having a name for the struggle makes the struggle itself feel more manageable. And Sylvia Howard shares how shedding dead weight can illuminate the past as well as the future.
Recovery in Literature
One of the most chilling and beautiful books I’ve read in recent history was In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. I stumbled across it in this NPR Code Switch interview and, as a trauma survivor and memoirist myself, I felt an urgent need to read the book. Here’s how Machado describes it:
I guess I would describe it as (laughter) an experimental memoir about many things, including queer intimate partner violence, that uses genre as a mode of interrogation. — Carmen Maria Machado, speaking of her memoir, In the Dream House
I found the book delivered exactly that. Her pain was mine, and her healing as well, as I devoured the story within days of checking it out from the library. My literary brain was also hard at work, though, from her examination of genre and tropes. I highly recommend In the Dream House, though some readers might find the content around domestic abuse uncomfortable to read.
Writing Prompt
This month, we’re looking for stories around the many roads to recovery. Did you start out on a path, only to have it disappear soon after you’d begun the journey? Were you certain you were going in the right direction but later realized you’d been traveling in circles? Or maybe, with a simple map, you were able to make your way relatively easily. Whatever your story, we want to read it.
When you have a story to share, submit it to Messy Mind. If you’re not already a writer for us, request to be added; do so a week before you plan on submitting a story, just to be safe. If you are, just add your story to the pub by August 31. Please use the tag “RoadToRecoveryPrompt.” Exceptional submissions will be highlighted in next month’s newsletter.
Until Next Time
I hope to see you again next month. If you want more, please follow Messy Mind and our writers. You can also sign up for updates directly from me via my newsletter and follow me on Insta, Twitter, and Facebook.
- Nikki
