Lisa
“When you have lost literally everything, you really do have nothing to left to lose. And it’s actually quite liberating; that feeling of lightness that embraces you post-loss. I found myself quietly rejoicing in the fact that my fears no longer burdened my shoulders once they had come to pass. After I lost everything, all that was left was just me and yet somehow, despite my sometimes warped instincts, I was still alive. That was the greatest gift I could have been given and I am so thankful for that every single day.
Pure and simple, crazy or not, you are everything you have right now. And you are the only one left that has to put up with you, be there for you when you cry, come up with the solutions to all the pressing dilemmas of our daily existence, tuck you in and snuggle up to you at night; just you. At the depths of my despair there was nobody left who I could tolerate for very long, and the feeling was usually mutual. So, yes of course I have a highly developed sense of self awareness; I have had a lot of free time to work on it!”
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“I am no-one special or qualified, but what I could offer was a first hand account of what living with the diagnosis meant. Note that I say; “living with the diagnosis”, not “living with Bipolar disorder”. And believe me, there is a difference. One implies living in a permanent state of disease, the other highlights a whole other set of problems that can arise from the stigma of being diagnosed mentally ill. And that stigma, that label of “defective”, the feeling of being almost branded and excluded, it cuts so much deeper and hurts so much more than the classified symptoms of the actual disorder. Manic episodes come and go, depression lingers then passes, all states of emotional being are transient and fleeting, but “being bipolar” becomes a permanent feature. People look at you differently when they “know”. Getting upset over something that would annoy anyone can be seen as a sign of your “instability”.”
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Sonya Melbourne
A current member of the Australian Society of Authors and SCBWI, Sonya is a serious and committed author, who treats writing as a business as well as a passion.
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Her mother’s comment that her life was ‘filled with joy’ was what inspired author Sonya Melbourne to write a book about a lifelong struggle her mother has fought with mental illness.
Inspired Recovery will be a compilation of true stories from those diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, who have achieved happiness and success in their lives. In short, Inspired is about the triumph of the human spirit.
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