What is recovery in mental health?

What is Recovery? For myself and my journey of recovery it means a new chapter. Yes, to me, recovery is more than just from an addiction. It is something that we have to move through whether physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. We recover from a broken bone; we recover from overusing a substance and we can also recover from a emotionally traumatizing event/events. And with recover comes a new chapter. New chapter because we can't always go back to how exactly we are before the recovery. It was a time where I discovered how I would have live differently now in this recovery phase so I took it as an opportunity to discover many things and aware that I needed to make changes.

Recover, in my life, was to rebuild a life after being in an unhealthy, abusive environment. My ways of living at that time were no longer joyful nor leading me down a path as a healthy-minded adult. So, with taking accountability I gave myself grace, self-love and started more about myself and what made my life better or worse.

Was I a master at recovery at first? Oh hell no.....lol I messed up and choose poorly at times. Learning my triggers, boundaries and figuring how to feel safe and at peace was a big goal. It was like a broken bone and had to take the time for it to heal, rest, along with how to move in this new space but instead of a broken bone it was rewiring my brain and how I wanted to view and live in a world after all the abuse and trauma.

Loving myself more and surrounding myself with people who could guide me on a better path. Those were trial and error moments. I met some amazing people and others who were there to remind me of a lesson I didn't want in my new space.

It is a day-to-day effort.

Recovery still isn't an overnight fix. It still takes time, and you can be in recovery (in some way shape or form) through the rest of your life.

But in my mental health recovery, It's a time of peaceful solitude. Journaling and giving myself validation from past emotions and find ways to get out of trauma responses and survival mode when the trauma wanted us to feel otherwise. Yes, it may feel super emotional and uncomfortable at times especially when talking about the hard things to move through, but i realized it gives you the opportunity to change your perception to how you want to carry those traumatic events.

Know that every person's walk in Recovery may be different, but whichever way a person's recovery has to be is unique just like we all are as humans.

So don't find defeat in this new Chapter of Recovery, find it as a fresh start to choose YOU and MAKE YOUR LIFE THE WAY YOU NEED IT!