Over the years since I was first diagnosed with schizophrenia my view of recovery has changed. This is in part due to being more educated on what recovery is. It is also from growing older and having more experience to draw from. I am now in my early 30's. And I was diagnosed 5 years ago at the age of 27.
In the early years after my diagnosis I knew very little more about dealing with my illness other than to exercise. I envisioned recovery as resuming a normal life. This normal life in my eyes was to have a 9 to 5 and a more or less fruitful and productive life.
As I thought of exercise as being so crucial to recovery I began doing 100 mile bike rides. It took 3 months to get in shape to ride 100 miles in a day. I began riding 100 miles once a month as was recommended on the internet. I loved riding in that time in my life.
I look back on my recovery process now and see that enjoying biking was just as important as the exercise I got. Its good to exercise and have physical health. All the experts will tell you of the mind body connection. However, recovery is about piecing together a broken life. We need to have happiness. And I found a source of happiness in biking. It helped me through a hard time in my life.
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