Leslie Dulfo
- Affirmations - January 9, 2025
- Watches - December 27, 2024
- Books - December 12, 2024
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – The Little Prince by Antoine Van Saint Exuspery.
A lot of times, the world and its people are struggling for survival. The saga for money and power is so consuming that it exhausts a person’s endless thirst for worldly things. The needs and wants of a person keeps topping the charts. That even Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is inconsequential. The wants become needs and lifestyles work more harm than what is plausible – when applause and validation is the given concept of what is right and just.
This is perhaps how the world works now – that there is no contentment and the ability to overpower others might be indulging.
Many times, I have asked myself why I continue to write even when it does not pay well or why I advocate and volunteer for things. Mainly because it has given me a sense of purpose. Sometimes when you are at a point where material things are non-congruent to finding meaning in life, you follow Henry David Thoreau’s advice to simplify, simplify and simplify. For indeed, money is not everything unless of course when you make it take a hold of you.
However, know that when you can’t hardly afford your most basic needs then you find yourself lacking in many ways. Not only do you feel less effective as a person and end up not being self-sufficient with extraneous self-pity. Your mental health is in turmoil, more so your tendency to burrow yourself in the darkest pits. Sometimes, most of the time, mental illnesses give you the inability to function well or hardly at all so much that you have to be dependent on your support system even in the most basic of needs. Such is a known fact and a testament based on my experiences.
I had to be dependent on my support system since diagnosis for more than 15 years of my life. Sometimes, I thought I would just be stagnant for life or rely on others for things until I get to be in my elderly years. Some already appeared and left, thoughts which made me grief everytime in terms of friendships, relationships and death of loved ones. Sometimes I thought I would never survive but if you think the world is tough, then know you are tougher.
Remember that progress is non-linear. One time you may be fine, then the next day your feelings might spiral downwards. If you are bipolar, the moods can change from high-functioning mania and running thoughts to depression and emptiness.
Know that healing is not a race, do it at your own pace. Some people find this hard to accept, especially when you look at yourself in a mirror crying yourself to sleep over spilled milk. Remember, that things will be better with hope and action. Maybe not now,or maybe someday.
Do what’s good for you. Create a balance for your sanity. Afterall, mental illness or not, it is still you who can make things work.I do believe that we are always given a choice to be strong even in little ways no matter how we think the world frowns at us.
Celebrate yourself and your small wins. No one does it like you do? You can do this! Maybe not today but perhaps a big yes someday! Take care and realize that you are that infinite star waiting to glimmer!
Should you need help on mental health, you can reach the Baguio City Health Services Office Mental Health and Wellness Unit at 0919-069-6361, Department of Health CAR – Mental Health Unit at 0938-757-6458 and the Baguio General Hospital Psychiatry Unit at (074) 442-2365.