Whenever I thought about being recovered I always had a vision of me being 100% free from all mental illness symptoms. Coping fine with full time work, having a family and so on. But I was very perfectionistic in my views and when talking to my psychologist she helped me to see that being 'in recovery' and even 'recovered' means that I can deal with and manage my symptoms, so that they are not controlling me. It might never mean I'm 100% free of symptoms, but I'll be at a stage where the symptoms do not impact on my life and behaviour because I'll know how to cope with them.
I've made peace with the fact that from time to time I'll self harm. I'm talking down from multiple times a day to a couple of times a year. To me that's 'recovered' self harm wise and I'm chuffed to bits with it!
I'll feel recovered when I can work (even if part time) without getting so stressed that I feel suicidal. And cope with my life without using the sabotaging, unhelpful behaviours I currently use to check out and not deal with things (or deal with them in a damaging way).
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