Today is a pretty good day. The rain has stopped for a start and the sun is shining! I have been running again and am now covering much more distance in the same time and feeling stronger and fitter for it.
This has caused me to reflect on the 'ups and downs' of a mental health patient working hard on recovery. Perspective is most difficult to achieve on the bad days but I am beginning to see how important it is to work on averages. Now I am no mathematician but I do know that if you take an average of, say the stock market for example, the overall trend over a period of time is climbing and just because it has a few bad days doesn't mean it is in terminal decline.
Fear is a key issue for me in my mental health recovery; I am frightened on the bad days that I am not improving but showing signs of what I have called 'terminal decline'. On good days like today, then, it is incumbent upon me to record the positives, to remind myself of the overall trend and, if necessary, take some kind of average. Returning on a regular basis to this, if you like, empirical psychology, should give encouragement and provide incentive to maintain momentum even on the bad days. I am going to work harder on this.
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