The journey is a marathon

I am starting this without really having a purpose in mind other than to maintain some kind of momentum. Momentum can be a rare commodity for us long term sufferers of mental health problems.  The last few days 'diabolical' has been viciously persistent and this has challenged me on so many levels.  Worst of all has been that the rational voices, the good demons I described in my last post, have been repeatedly shouted down by the voluminous 'diabolical' to the point they appear, on occasion, to have vanished altogether.

I am very tired of it. And, as I have said before, whilst I don't feel sorry for myself and am not looking for sympathy, some acceptance and understanding is always welcome!

Tiredness is a key factor in all of this.  I think any mental health patient (at whatever stage they are) would say there are many days when fighting back is as exhausting as running a marathon.


Just like in Cavafy's poem 'Ithaka' the journey is just as, if not more important than, the eventual destination.  Mental health patients get this too.  However, for us the journey is, sadly, so often about daily struggle.

My short blog today ends simply with this 'pause for thought': it feels like a marathon because it is a marathon!  Nevertheless, however slowly you run, however much your anxieties and fears add weight to your back as you are running, we have to keep the destination in mind and accept the fact that some days the journey is purgatory (and thus it is hard to heed Cavafy's assertion about the inherent validity of the journey) whilst if we 'press on' some days, even if only rarely, the sun does and will shine.