Better, not cured.

Our lives will never be perfect. We know that overall health is not just physical but emotional as well. We will never get it “just right”, or perfect, not in this lifetime. We can still strive for better moments and better days. No matter what we get done, there are times we feel there will always more to do, more to “fix, or more to say. We have our mental health to try and manage. We see more and more people talking about mental health in our society. As a therapist who treats OCD in the field of mental health, I have also embraced my own emotional demons. The increased talk of our mental health as a society, I feel that this is more positive than I have the words for. It’s been a long time coming. We will always have more to learn about our mental health, about ourselves, as well as supporting others. Trying to go in the direction of better, not expecting perfection.

All or nothing thinking seems to be an area that we can all struggle with at times. It can be seen as good or bad, clean or dirty, either way, it’s still all or nothing. We know with OCD struggles, this type of thinking often keeps us stuck. We know the freedom often lies in the areas of gray. Managing our mental health not only helps us seize our moments, but it can also can make our ongoing path more clear as we move ahead and enjoy our lives the best we can. We know the more our brain experiences something, the more that it expects that same something. It can be helpful to accept our situation, embrace the uncertainty, and move forward even though we don’t have everything “fixed” or figured out. Our present situation with this Covid virus is a good example. The uncertainty that continues to surround us all, this is talked about more and more. Regardless of where we spend the time in our day, we still have a life to live. Our life goes on, no matter how scary or uncertain it is. We often tend to feel better emotionally, if we can spend this time in areas we care about. No matter if that is only 5 seconds or 5 hours, it can be another amount of time that we felt like we are doing something we care about. Improved, more productive, better, but not perfectly finished.

I don’t have some kind of cute or catchy “social” media meme to add here. Just a reminder that hatred and a lack of compassion tends to add more unhelpful decay to the situation. This goes for how we treat ourselves as well as how we treat others. Keep going.

Jeremy Rudd

“If who I am today, is a sign of where i’m going, i’m ready to Embrace.” –

Up and Down and Back Again, Powderfinger