Floating Through Emotional Storms (I have no idea what to call this blog)

  This post came up on my Facebook memories today (annoyingly I can't figure out how to remove the background colour): So many people are dying because of mental illness. The quote I've attached, 'you cannot save people you can only love them' is mostly true but I do think that kindness and love can go a long way to saving someone. I have experienced too many cruel and judgemental people, MH professionals a lot of the time, who just add to peoples pain. By the way I know the majority of MH professionals are really great people. I overheard a nurse say that she used to only work with people with EUPD - who pretended to be suicidal, and then she encountered other people with real illnesses. This is a damn painful fake illness then! I can only talk for myself but the way I would describe EUPD is like a magnifying glass/microscope for situations and emotions. So if a person in general was scared of bugs and saw an ant they might not react too much to it, someone with EUPD w...

  I love getting things in the post that are not scary DWP letters and often find myself buying lots of things online that I really don't need. On arrival they give me a quick burst of contentment but then I just go back to feeling like I need something more. I was introduced to a positive pen pals group on Facebook (link) a number of years ago. This group is open to people who have mental health problems and/or physical health problems with the goal of communication, sharing, and spreading positivity. I had a few pen pals, you can write a post asking for pen pals and have however many you are comfortable with and write to people who are in the same country as you or further afield, and really enjoyed receiving their letters and sending replies back. A really nice thing about the group is that people usually include extras in letters such as motivational quotes and handmade crafts. I have a couple of scrapbooks where I have saved the extras people have sent me. Getting colourful a...

 Starting with an easy post, just sharing this video. Many people don't seem to think an autism diagnosis is important, that people can be happy with a self diagnosis and because there is no treatment for autism it's not going to change anything. I'm all for other people self diagnosing but I personally want to have a clear answer because I might be wrong. I have been told in the past that I don't have autism and when I have been referred for an assessment I have been so upset that I might have been trying to fit into a box that I don't actually fit into that I have decided not to take up a space on the waiting list. More people now are agreeing that I could have autism but unfortunately there are so many assessment referrals coming in that the GPs in my area aren't processing them. I found this video and wanted to share it because it explains a lot about why a formal diagnosis can be important. Link

 I am a 38 year old female living in Scotland. I have struggled with my mental health pretty much all of my life that I can remember and have been diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder/Borderline Personality Disorder Disorder, potentially Primary Psychotic Disorder NOS and also potentially Autism. I'm going to refer to myself as having autism throughout the blog just because it is easier than saying potential autism and means I don't have to change the wording if I am ever diagnosed. I'm not entirely sure how this blog is going to turn out. The ideas I have at the moment are to share coping mechanisms, insights into how my illnesses personally affect me vs how professional opinions differ, book reviews, and a jumble of other things. I might run out of things to post about but I hope the posts are beneficial to at least one person. Where to start?