Seven Principles of Gittin’Off Zero
Mental- Strengthening yourself mentally allows you to become more open and aware of your surroundings. Using the capacity of your mind will broaden your horizons and make it possible for you to reach your goals.
Spiritual- Draw closer and allow yourself to establish and maintain a relationship with whatever higher power you chose to believe in. It is important to have some sort of spiritual beliefs to keep yourself grounded with proper morals. Your spiritual connections will also strengthen your relationships with friends, family and also in getting to know yourself.
Physical- Maintain a healthy and balanced diet that is right for you. Exercise consistently enough to maintain physical strength but only do what you and your body are comfortable with. Refrain from over exerting yourself and as time passes maintaining your diet and exercise will become a part of your daily routine.
Intellectual- Begin healthy reading habits and regularly research topics of interest. This will evolve your vocabulary use and develop you into an increasingly well rounded person.
Financial- Saving is very important. Save what you can as often as you can. Getting in this habit will put you in a more stable financial position allowing you to be more flexible with your money.
Political- Become familiar with the candidates running for offices in political elections. Have at least a simple knowledge of the constitution and the laws that govern where you live. If you would prefer to be a neutral in the affairs of politics, that is well within your rights. However you can still be knowledgeable and have a basic understanding of each parties platform and what they stand for and against.
Social- Establish healthy relationships with others especially those close to you. Be consistently open-minded to the beliefs, backgrounds and customs of others different from yourself.
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| On March 11, 2011 I shared an ice cream with my son welcoming in his sixth birthday. On March 13, 2011 I stood at the Delta counter looking for a plane ticket to Paris, France with my son by my side. I had no luggage, no id, no passport, no money and there was no ticket to Paris. I would later be admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with schizophrenia. Today I sit and reflect on the past year. The year that was filled with meetings, politicians, trips, events, possibilities and homelessness and I wonder when did the game change. I had a psychotic breakdown and everyday I have to tell myself that I have a mental illness. I take medication and I know that over the years, I have done several things that have been “out of character.” Today I tell myself that I am schizophrenic and I have a choice and that choice is to live life as a normal person. I am often filled with uncertainty because I do not know what it means to be normal. Life feels weird since there are no longer any racing thoughts, no extreme highs or depressing lows. Today, my life just is and I have no clue what my tomorrow will be. During my breakdown, I deleted all of my entries off of my blog. I also threw away all of my writings and anything that would hold me connected to my past. All that I have is my today. So today, I am choosing to begin blogging again; putting language to my thoughts and my feelings. Today I am choosing to try something new which is doing the thing that I don’t want to do. It is alright to say that I am advocating for mental illness and it is alright to say that I was diagnosed with a mental illness, but I daily am coming to grips with acknowledging that I suffer from a disease and it goes by the name of schizophrenia.
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Chantaye
Skype: ChantayeM.
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