By Poetess Bethany Camille James

I want to open by saying a statement:

Mental health has led to a greater understanding of my health and helped me work towards a place of rational clarity.

Clarity is knowing one needs help.

Reaching for help may lead to taking steps towards recovery.

Thankful for rational help and a strong spiritual background.

By Poetess Bethany Camille James

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Origin or how this came to be a challenge:

Initially, my symptoms started with a diagnosis. Also, I struggled with the diagnosis and have prayed about it for years. Paranoid symptoms and anxiety are things I feel are the most challenging. Moreover, the actual diagnosis is schizophrenia and major depression.  Whereby personal goals have taken more time to achieve. However, therapy and medicine management has helped me work towards being better.

Additionally, many who share my faith say I should pray for healing. All this seems to be within a divine plan. Having faith has helped me cope. Overall, I have dealt with feelings of inferiority and emotional lack of self-esteem. This journey with mental health started in 2014 at a low point in my life. And this led to a place of needing counseling. Even though it was rocky in my personal life, God helped me embrace the process. Ultimately, I want to get to a place of healing and restoration. Yet, the process is slow.

Present-day techniques I am using:

Currently, my road to recovery looks like me taking on one stressor at a time. Mainly, I thankful for this opportunity to blog and share my testimony. Purposefully, this is aiming at healthier choices and talking on the subject. Another example is using poetry and art therapy techniques to focus on recovery. Moreover, one of my therapists once suggested I created a physical vision board of my short and long-term goals. Thirdly, an art therapist helped me make a short-term and long-term poetry journal. Primarily, arts and crafts using writing/poetry have been a tool for me.

 This intervention led to vision boarding as I got social media opportunities. Finally, in Facebook groups, I found community and similar interests during this process. I played popular games such as yes to the dress and several other positive outlets. Modeling and meditation are things I accessed from technology like Facebook groups and more.

Overall, I slowly used social media in positive ways to express myself and find ways to not be alone during my road to recovery. I took a conceptual view of my vision boarding and niche marketing to create @writethevisionboards. Another example of my road to recovery is my poetic encouragement ministry. Also, my writing and poetry started years before I was symptomatic. The noteworthy outlet of writing and poetry early on has allowed me to take control of my life. All this happened long before I felt as though things were out of control.

Is this process easy? Of course not, but I worked through my challenges by utilizing resources and skills.

Purpose of this journey:

In closing encouraging, words are helping me recover. My findings show me that being willing to be “pliable and work on mental clarity has impacted me in every area of my life.” For example, during this journey, I formed a business called My Master’s Ministry Official that uses poetry and digital content to encourage others. Generally, this technique uses my story to help others.   For now, I reach and teach through my experience.

 Progressively, I have been out of therapy for a few years. Yet, I still actively stay current with my medication management appointments. Earnestly, I have worked on myself during this process and hope to get to a place that I can do more with my goals. Lastly, I am happy that God can allow us to seek help, and perfection is not his requirement. To sum it up, it is ok to ask for help and work towards a better me.

Learn more about how poetry helped me cope:

goodreads.com/mymastersministry

fb.me/thebiggameremastered

@mymastersministry

@writethevisionboards

Author Bio:

I am a poetess, blogger, and I run a virtual encouragement site. I am an emerging, first-time, Indie author. I am also currently running an Etsy shop called 3Ms Official Merch to raise money donations for my writing endeavors (My Master’s Ministry Official).