Quote by Elyn Saks

This is a quote Elyn Saks who a professor of Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Gould Law School She is also diagnosed with Schizophrenia and has written about her experience in the book The Center Cannot Hold.

She goes on to say that her good fortune is not that she’s ‘recovered’ from mental illness but that she her good fortune lies in having found her life. And that is my challenge to you, how do you want your life to be?

What is your purpose? What is the meaning of your life? Are there symptoms or coping strategies that are getting in the way of achieving your goals? Then get into some good therapy and start working on it so that you can find the life you want.

Something that I see sometimes in my work with trauma survivors/those in the LGBTQIA community is that they have become incredible advocates and used their lived experience as Dr Saks has done to shed light on mental illness/ social inequities and harms to their communities. That is admirable and laudable, and at the same time it can come at a price. Sometimes these folks can get over-identified with this advocacy piece and forget to take care of themselves and see that they need support too. It is important to find a well-rounded life, and that can be hard to do if you were not taught what that looks like.

Again, as I often say, this is why therapy is so incredibly important. If you are having trouble finding a life on your own, consider finding a good therapist. It is SO helpful to have someone not involved in the situation to help you see things more clearly.