Carls Bi-Polar Blog.
July 2010: Well I am very happy to see you all again at the drop-ins and know that this will be my final blog entry before our August close down period, when Ynys Mon Mind will be at this year’s Anglesey County Show on the 10th and 11th of August. This year I hope to be on the stand at the show promoting our services with our pioneering Ynys Mon Mind manager, Clare Bailey and other staff members. This year I hope to bring out ‘Dylan the Depressed Dragon’ to try and entertain people a little, as some of you may know that I used to be a childrens’ entertainer! That is what is so interesting about my bipolar, as without it I do not think that I would be able to entertain people! Indeed I do think that bipolar and other mental health diagnoses can also be linked to creativity and should not always be seen in a purely negative light. To conclude, I hope that you have found all of my blog entries useful in aiding your understanding of my life and I hope that I have provided some insight as to how I try and live my life in as positive and meaningful a way as possible, despite the difficulties that I sometimes have to face. So until we meet again, thanks for reading my blogs and may I wish you all of the very best for the future. Remember, Ynys Mon Mind is always here for you to help you cope with the adventurous journey that is life! See you around. Goodbye for now. Carl.
June 2010: Well I am finally back living volunteering for Ynys Mon Mind. Thank-you to you all for your warm welcomes and I am glad to see a few new faces at the drop-ins and on the staffing team. A warm welcome to you all. I am sure that this year will see our organisation growing from strength to strength as we pioneer such services such as Mental Health First Aid Training, School Mental Health Awareness Educational Training and further developing the quality of our core Drop-in Service, which I know so many of you enjoy so much. I am pleased with the new weight management and healthy eating group. Having weighed in at just over 14 stone at my first drop-in this month I realise that I still have a little way to go to reach my target weight of 12 stone before Christmas! I look forward to joining in as much as possible with whatever events you have planned and wish you and the rest of the Ynys Mon Mind team all of the best for a most successful, healthy and prosperous future. So many of us at Ynys Mon Mind have so much to give and I think that we all can serve as positive role models for those that are still recovering from mental health issues. Until next month, which will be my final blog entry for the time being, this is Carl saying a big thank-you for having me back! With warm wishes. Carl.
May 2010: Well I am finally back living temporarily (until I find myself a flat on the island) with my parents on Anglesey. I have decided to move back as I primarily could not get used to living back in the city again and missed the beach and countryside lifestyle that Anglesey offers. Indeed the ‘countryside air’ I feel is good for my body and mind and I am pleased to be back now volunteering again for Ynys Mon Mind. I am looking forward to helping out again at the drop-ins, contributing my thoughts and ideas to the board meetings and generally helping out wherever I am needed. I aim to restart helping out at the Friday drop-in service next month (June 2010) and it seems that time has flown by so quickly since I left you all to move back to the city last October (2009)! I really am looking forward to seeing you all again and hope that you have all been keeping well and looking after yourselves. So until next month when I start back volunteering with you again this is Carl saying goodbye to Stoke-on-Trent and hello once again to Anglesey! Moving away and moving back again has taught me to really appreciate Anglesey life now, but I will kind of always miss my hometown of Stoke-on-Trent as most of my childhood memories are to be found there. Until next month. All the best. Carl.
April 2010: The Coleg Harlech course on Confidence Improvement highlighted the need to try and remain positive and to focus on your strengths as a person rather than your weaknesses. I was taught to think positively about what to expect of myself and when in doubt about myself to think about my talents and abilities. Dwelling on negative thoughts is not good for mental health improvement and we were taught that they need to be pushed away as soon as they come into your head with strong positive thoughts. You also need to try and look for things that are going well in your life and to feel good about them, despite the difficulties that you may be facing. Finally, you need to remind yourself that you must first believe in yourself if others are to believe in you as well. So my final thought from the confidence course is to trying being someone who sees the glass as being half full, instead of half empty. Well that is all for this month and next month I have some flat moving news for you as yes, you’ve guessed it, I was missing Anglesey life so much that I have decided to move back! Until next month. All the best. Carl.
March 2010: Well I have managed to finish a few books on mental health awareness and have just completed a Confidence Improvement course on Anglesey with Coleg Harlech. So what have I learnt and how has it shaped my life for the better? Firstly, the self-help books such as Anthony Robbins ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ and Jeremy Thomas / Dr Tony Hughes / Stephen Fry’s ‘You Don’t Have To Be Famous To Have Manic Depression: The Insider’s Guide To Mental Health’ have taught me better strategies for coping, managing my medications, and better utilizing appropriate therapies such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). These books are written by people who have experienced life’s ups and downs and provide the reader with an informative, unpretentious and funny look at dealing with mental health issues and confidence improvement. I would highly recommend these books as useful starting points to anyone who wants to improve and better understand their own mental health. Next month I will tell you all about my confidence improvement course. So until next time, this is Carl wishing you all the best for your health and wellbeing.
