Todays Recovery

So far today I have been enjoying my recovery. I have had a ball all day. I got up this morning and made breakfast for Kim and saw her off to work. After she left I sat in my rocking chair, rocked back and forth and listened to some classical music.

After I did that I played my Battlefield 1942 computer game. I played for two hours straight without a break. That in itself is a miracle for me. At one time I would of only lasted five minutes and stopped as a result of my negative symptoms.

After I did that I did some writing on one of my other blogs.

When Kim got home from work we cut back the flowers in her garden. She has a flower garden out front. She just loves it too. I help her with the garden every spring and summer. It's nice to have a flower garden out in front of the house.

After that I came in and started writing this blog entry. I am also listening to BBC Radio 3 as I write this article. I just love classical music. I listen to a lot of online radio stations. Mostly classical but I also listen to rock, gospel, easy listening music, a bit of country, jazz, and opera. I personally believe that music is good for the soul. No matter what kind of music a person listens to.

Mental Health week is coming up in April. I am definitely going to write up some articles to celebrate Mental Health Week. I will be writing an article for the "Mental Health Perspective Newsletter" published by our local branch of CMHA. for Mental Health Week. In fact all four of us are going to write articles celebrating Mental Health Week. We are all going to write articles on creativity and mental health. We all believe that creativity helps people have good mental health. I have been doing some research and there is definitely a connection between people that have mental illness and creativity. Most of the creative people in history have had some form of mental illness. Whether they were composers, writers, musicians, painters, and sculptors. Even some scientists had a form of mental illness.

I am not a genius but I am quite a creative person. I was a professional musician at one time. I am a half decent writer. I used to draw many years ago. I was a great public speaker. I used to speak in the Church when I was involved in the Church. Everyone at the Church thought that I was a good little gospel preacher. Since I have started recovering from my mental illness I have also done a lot more public speaking. Most of the speeches that I have delivered were on mental illness. I try to do anything possible to get the word out there about mental illness. I use my writing skills and public speaking skills to do this. Not only do I love writing but I also love delivering speeches. I find that being creative does certainly help give me a more fulfilling recovery. I am thinking about taking up drawing again and I want to learn how to paint as well. I would also like to start playing the piano again. I used to play the piano a lot back in the late seventies and early eighties. I do have a keyboard at the present moment. I can only remember how to play four songs but I would like to start learning more songs. I just love playing the piano. It gives me a good felling and a sense of accomplishment.

The problem is I am pressed for time. I have so many things on my plate. I am going to try to find time for all these activities I want to engage in.

I have to go. A friend of mine has just arrived. He's going to help me get the patio set out of the garage. Kim wants to put it out today. We both just love sitting outside at the patio table. We have barbecues and sit at our patio table to eat our meals we cook on the barbecue. We also sit around the table when we have company, relax, and chat with our friends. There was a time when I didn't have that many friends as a result of my mental illness. Now Kim and I have lots of friends. We love to have our friends over for special meals that Kim and I make. As far as socializing goes there is nothing more pleasurable than socializing over a real good meal.

Before my friend and I dig out the patio set we are going to get on the job bank and check it out. My friend is looking for a job at the present moment. He is looking for a cooking job or a janitor job. He has training in both. He is also recovering from schizophrenia. He used to work with me at the candle factory before we both got laid off. I also went to the Annapolis Valley Work Center together. He took a janitorial course and I was taking woodworking. We both also took upgrading, job development, and personal development. We both graduated successfully.

Concerning jobs I had to drop one of my jobs. I was burning myself out. That isn't good. That could cause a relapse of my mental illness. I don't want that. I gave it much serious thought. I have decided to drop my part time job at the candle factory. So now I only have four jobs on the go instead of five. These four jobs keep me pretty busy. There was a time when I couldn't hold down one job let alone four. I need these four jobs in order to make enough money to pay for my high speed internet and my tobacco. Yes I am one of those fellows who smoke. I also drink a lot of coffee. If caffeine and nicotine are my only vices in life I have nothing to worry about. If you consider all the vices I have had in the past. The smoking might kill me but everyone has to die from something. I have tried many times to quit but without success. As I as I am concerned that is okay with me. Kim understands that I am not able to quit as well. She is a very understandable wife.

I am thinking about playing my computer game again later on. I have so much fun playing my computer games. It is something I do for rest and relaxation. A person needs some time out from all the responsibilities of life just to have fun.

My friend and I have just decided to watch a Deep Purple concert after we dig out the patio set. I have three of their concerts on DVD. In fact the first song that I learned how to play on the drums was Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. It is a fun song to play on the drums. I used to have a ball when I played in the bands. I have played in three or four different rock bands, a country band, and I also played in the school jazz band. It was fun. Back then I wanted to be successful in playing in a band that made it big. I used to daydream about playing in front of thousands and thousands of people. It didn't work out though. That's okay with me though. I just love doing what I do at the present moment concerning work.

As far as my career I consider writing my career. I just do the other jobs to make enough money to get me by. Some day I want to be a full time writer. I want to become a successful paid published free lance writer. Because of my obsessive compulsive disorder I have trouble deciding what genre I want to write about concerning my writing career. I will decide and get down to business. I want to find people to interview for my stories. I love interviewing people and write stories based on the interview. In fact I have interviewed many people for stories for the CMHA newsletter. We had a fellow from the Advertiser give a talk to us on good interviewing skills. I learned a lot about the topic from his talk. What I learned from him will definitely improve my interview skills.

I have to go now. I could write all day but I have other things I have to tend to. Bye for now. May you enjoy your day today.