Concluding Two Years Of Writing This Blog. . .

I started writing this blog exactly two years ago--August, 2011. It was a time in my life largely defined by change: the end of long-term relationship, a new home in a new location, a memoir being published about mental health and addiction; I was sober after years of drug and alcohol abuse. I was more fragile then than I am now--a little more frightened of the world. Writing this blog--sharing my experiences and you sharing yours-- made my life a little easier. I felt less alone.

I have moved four times within the past two years. I have struggled to stay sober and repair relationships and practice the self-care I preach in these blogs. Change is difficult, particularly when you live with a chronic mental illness, but this blog remained stable. It was one of things I could count on when life seemed to get crazy as it invariably did.

I learned more about myself by writing this blog---more about recovering from mental illness--then I have living with it since I was diagnosed at the age of twelve. I also learned more about others. I owe much of this to the wonderful people that have read this blog, who have shared their experiences and made us all feel less alone, and also to healthyplace.com for providing me with the opportunity to delve into issues that are important.

Like everything else in life, change is the only constant, and it was with much thought that I decided it was time to move on. I believe it's time for this blog to have a fresh face---a new personality to shed perspective on recovery from mental illness. I look forward to reading this blog and interacting as a reader as opposed to a writer.

This is the part where I thank those who have read the blog---and I do this with the utmost sincerity and respect---Thank you!