I’ve recently been asked to do a new series on living with schizophrenia for another blog.
This wouldn’t be so much of a problem but it’s asking for more writing and better production value than I’m used to and to be honest the responsibility of even thinking about it, though exciting, is causing me a little bit of stress.
As we all know stress can be the difference between wellness and problems when you have a major mental illness.
The thing is, I’m excited to do it and it pays well so I want to at least give it a good shot.
This ties into a current thread in my life over the last year or so of challenging myself to try new things, whether its eating new vegetables or going out at night to events or trying on new responsibilities, I’ve taken small initiatives to try and live a little bit more as opposed to the stagnancy that things have been building up to the last ten years or so.
Things these all cause me a little bit of stress but I think it’s important to challenge yourself and I think any counselor or guru or therapist would say the same thing.
For the longest time I was under the impression that I had worked my ass off to find my comfort zone so there was no reason to leave it and espouse the advice so many travel writers and young people talk about when they talk about living life to the fullest.
I had been there, done that, I had lived enough life to kill a horse and I just wanted to relax.
That was all fine and good for a time but then I got bored and antsy.
The thing is, I think we all need to stretch our sea legs every once in a while, We all need to get out there from time to time and have ourselves a little fun sometimes.
Experiencing new things gives you more basis from which to judge and react to the things in your life that give you pause.
New things give you perspective about the way things are, the way they have been and the way they could be.
Take it from me, if anyone knows the value of taking it easy on yourself and practicing self care it’s me but at the risk of feeling gross and stagnant it’s important every now and again to stretch your muscles and see what else the world can throw at you.
Don’t be afraid to step out of your boundaries every now and again, even if it’s just a small step, I’ve been taking these small steps lightly and slowly over the last year and it’s taught me a few things about the niche I’ve made for myself and it’s even given me some more and better opportunities that have been hard at first, but soon came to be normal and even fun.
Hell if I can start eating whole grains and salads and going out at night past 9 and writing more than six hundred words on any given topic there may even room down the line for a trip to somewhere exotic, it may take a while for me to get to that point but I’ve been looking at things with a more open mind and I think it would serve everyone well to look at things like that a little more.