Mental Health Awareness Month

I am so excited to announce that my story has been published in NAMI! 

Here is a link to the article-

https://nami.org/Personal-Stories/I-Took-Charge-of-my-Mental-Health-to-Live-the-Life-I-Wanted

Please feel free to read or share if you feel called.

I want to go a little deeper with you. 

Despite all that I've been through on this path, I can truly say I now live an unencumbered life. 

In March 2020 when I made the decision to go off medication, the decision was simple: I was done reliving and recounting the pain of my bipolar misdiagnosis. I knew this meant going off Adderall. 

I had grown dependent on Adderall during my time in Chicago- I thought it was the only reason I was good at my job. While I know this is a lie, it definitely helped.

When I told my doctor I never saw myself going off Adderall, she challenged me- "it doesn't make you smarter" she offered. 

At the time, I realized that I didn't care about being smarter, I just wanted to get more done. It was a very hard work = money mentality, and within a few months I eventually went off the Adderall and the antidepressant. 

My brain admittedly can't do the same multitasking or robotic task completion without Adderall, but the thing is, I don't care. I no longer view my output as the pure source of my worth, especially when it comes to my work. 

Going off medication wasn't actually as bad as I feared. My anxiety was nothing compared to what I felt when I was on the wrong medication. I didn't experience any painful side effects when I went off everything. I did become a little OCD about meditating and got weird about drinking alcohol. Hangover anxiety was much worse without the prescription, so I started experimenting with spurts of sobriety, but it bloomed a beautiful Dry January program as a result. 

I love the fact that I am medication free. I know it may not be a forever thing, and I've definitely needed to adapt my lifestyle to stay in a good headspace. 

I meditate daily

I do breathwork at least weekly 

I have a life coach 

I go to therapy as needed

I do mindset work

I've surrounded myself with friends who support me and listen to me when I need help 

I go outside every day 

I run and workout 

I use EFT tapping 

I go to Acupuncture 

I journal it out 

The best part? My anxiety is gone and I am making more money than I ever did in my robot state. I even got myself down to 1 cup of tea per day. 

Where ever you are at in your journey, know it is temporary. I was first prescribed Adderall in 2013 and it took me 7 years to go off the pill. It took me 9 to write about it on a public forum for the sake of helping others. My path has been winding but the view from the top is worth it. 

I am grateful for my path and my story because I know I can help others through my work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you are struggling- from the bottom of my heart, I get it. 

It truly does get better. 

xoxo,