Project 366 : Day 3

I'm thankful today for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  I need to get back and finish writing my blog series on CBT, but suffice to say, it's changed my life and I wouldn't be who I am, where I am, today, without it.

Happiness comes from B, not A!

My journey moves from one hospital, to another that is eerily familiar.  On discharge, I begin a 12 week class on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that is being held at the same hospital I was once admitted to as an adolescent.  No longer an in patient facility, it's now used strictly for out patient services.  Having dinner in the dining room feels odd...it looks smaller than I remember and I'm struck again at how time changes one's perspective.

In the conference room that was once used for the daily patient briefings, we sit around a large boardroom table and begin.  This first session is one of the three that will stick with me, molding to my core and shaping who I am; I want to share the core lesson with you.

Pure Clarity

I have had two defining moments of "pure clarity" about myself, the world and the way in which we interact which have been life and perspective changing.  As the second happened only a little over a week ago and I am still processing it, I'm not ready to share.

But, I'd like to share with you the first moment I had and the changes it led to.  It also set the scene for epiphany number two.


I have struggled with depression and anxiety (although I only really understood the latter in the last month) for most of my life.  Two years ago, I was hospitalized due to my mental health for the second time in my life - and my first admission as an adult.  I had hit a point of absolute rock bottom and felt unable to continue with anything.  I remember my first night in hospital laying in bed crying - for myself, for my children, for what felt like the hopelessness of it all.  And making myself a promise that, somehow, I would get it together and get better, for my kids.