I was in and out of the psych ward at the hospital 5 or 6 times in 1994. I lived in a group home from 1995 to 1997. Then I got an apartment, which was scary for me, but I did it anyway. I got a job doing data entry and filing in an office. I would be there for the next 21 years. I always tried to push myself. I had to pace myself by trying to do more and trying new things, yet not taking on too much that would make me regress.
In 2000, I bought my first car. In 2005, I bought my first house. In 2015, I made a fitness website.
In 2000, I started educating myself more on how to get better. I read books on mental health, diet, exercise, people skills, and finances. I have learned so much from all the books I’ve read, and all the Internet searches I’ve done. They have made my life so much easier.
That is one thing I highly encourage more people to do: to start dabbling in the personal development field. Personal development is used by Olympic athletes, world leaders, elite soldiers, business people, and everyday people like me.
I also developed more empathy for people struggling with things. And for people in general. More empathy, more respect. I always knew how hard life could be, but after going through mental illness, I developed a newfound knowledge of the difficulties and complexities of life.
In 2017, I heard for the first time about mental health in developing countries. I had never thought about that before. If people have no clean water, no schools, and malaria, what do they do if they have depression, anxiety, or are bipolar? It is a concept so simple, but I had never thought about it before. It had never been spelled out for me.
I went through mental illness in one of the best countries to do so. Yet it felt like I was living in a war zone. My heart goes out to people in impoverished or war-torn countries who have mental illness and the atrocities of poverty and war to go through as well.
So in 2018, I launched my Mind Aid website to try to help them. I believe if everybody simply knew about mental health in developing countries, if it became a mainstream conversation, millions of people would want to help.
I am finding peace and contentment in my life again. I didn’t know if I would ever again see that. But with tremendous effort on my part and an equal amount of pure luck, I have.
My dream is to have Mind Aid be a conversation starter for people everywhere to bring awareness to mental health in developing countries. What some people have to go through is unthinkable. If mental health in developing countries could become as well known as clean water or mosquito bed nets, think of the help they could get.
So what would you do if you saw the tsunami wave coming up the shore towards you? What would you do if you were trapped in your car as it sunk below the surface of a rushing river?
That untapped potential lying dormant your whole life would immediately kick into action. You would do what you didn’t think was humanly possible. And when you don’t think you have any more left to give, when it seems there is just no hope left, please remember: there is hope beyond hope.