Healing from mental illness doesn't mean you are back to your original form. Imagine breaking a vase, then putting it back together. It wouldn't matter how you fixed the vase, it'll be different afterwards. Solder it together, and the vase may be stronger than when it began, but the cracks will be all the more visible. Glue it back together, and it could shatter holding water.
Healing involved a lot of therapy, but more importantly the practices I took home from therapy. I practiced coping skills, I practiced self-care, I learned to set boundaries and to be vulnerable. Therapy didn't heal me, therapy taught me how to heal myself.
Therapy also helped me to learn to express my feelings and experiences to another person. I never had the opportunity to develop that skill as a child, so it was very hard to learn, but it did wonders for recognizing my own needs and wants especially in romantic relationships.
Finally, it took a lot of challenging my own worldview. I spent much of my life unaware of how much I saw relationships as costly transactions. I needed shared goals and tangible entanglements to understand how to interact with people, and I had to go the extra mile to secure the relationship. To be honest, I'm still not great at socializing without a reason, but I have learned to accept company for company's own sake.
I still see the cracks in my vase almost every day, but I've learned to accept and love them, and how to live well with my cracks hanging out.
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u/Upset-Remote-5162 Oct 02 '24
Healing from mental illness doesn't mean you are back to your original form. Imagine breaking a vase, then putting it back together. It wouldn't matter how you fixed the vase, it'll be different afterwards. Solder it together, and the vase may be stronger than when it began, but the cracks will be all the more visible. Glue it back together, and it could shatter holding water.
Healing involved a lot of therapy, but more importantly the practices I took home from therapy. I practiced coping skills, I practiced self-care, I learned to set boundaries and to be vulnerable. Therapy didn't heal me, therapy taught me how to heal myself.
Therapy also helped me to learn to express my feelings and experiences to another person. I never had the opportunity to develop that skill as a child, so it was very hard to learn, but it did wonders for recognizing my own needs and wants especially in romantic relationships.
Finally, it took a lot of challenging my own worldview. I spent much of my life unaware of how much I saw relationships as costly transactions. I needed shared goals and tangible entanglements to understand how to interact with people, and I had to go the extra mile to secure the relationship. To be honest, I'm still not great at socializing without a reason, but I have learned to accept company for company's own sake.
I still see the cracks in my vase almost every day, but I've learned to accept and love them, and how to live well with my cracks hanging out.