opening my heart to connection: sharing my mental health medication journey
happy start of the new calendar year! this year i’m working on opening my heart space and sharing more of my life journey in hopes to foster more connection and inspire others along their journey. what are your hopes and dreams for 2022?
in the spirit of all that, i’m going to get into a little story time about [part of] the reason why i made my adhd dashboard. if story time isn’t in your schedule right now, click here to check out the dash! and if you’re interested in what brought me here, read on...
i made this dashboard out of necessity. i’ve had a long, challenging road with my mental health, and with medication in particular. i was heavily over medicated for depression & anxiety for maaaaany years. with tons of unpleasant side effects, periods of withdrawal, and both of which ended me in the ER multiple times.
in 2016, i decided to come off all the medication because it really wasn’t working for me. in that time off meds, i put a lot of time and energy into taking care of myself and my body through multiple forms of therapy and various practices such as yoga, hypnosis, journaling (to name just a few). i started paying attention to what i was eating and introduced physical activity into my routine. i adopted the practice of minimalism - embarking on a journey of interacting consciously with everything around me. i completely changed my life around for the better and learned a lot of healthy coping skills.
and in some ways, i’ve still been struggling. as i was mainly focusing on depression, anxiety, and digestive issues, i’d been largely ignoring a huge part of myself: the adhd part. now that i can clearly see where it has been affecting me and i’m ready to start working with it, the topic of medication resurfaced.
it took me many months and long conversations with my doctor and therapist to get to a point where i felt comfortable trying medication again. looking at it as not a “fix”, but as another positive resource in my toolkit, like all my other healthy coping skills.
i knew this journey would likely come with a lot of ups and downs in the initial phases of experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t. so i built myself a system where i could keep track of all the details. cuz goodness knows, i never did that in the past, and would have no way of knowing all the medication i had tried or the effects it had on me.
now i’m prepared for this journey. i am able to feel more grounded and reassured, more organized. i have a place to keep all my info from my doctor, to write questions to ask at my next visit, and a place where i can log my progress. younger me is super wowed by me now, and feels very empowered this time around.
i’m sharing all of this in hopes that it empowers you in your journey to better mental health. so you can find hope to keep going. and that you can be well resourced. maybe my adhd dashboard can become part of your healthy coping skills, too.
if this sounds like something you’re interested in, click the button below to for more info & to snag yourself a copy! and if it sounds like something a friend might find value in, please pass this website along to them. i appreciate you and i am glad we’re here on this life journey together. 🖤
