Hope Beyond Diagnosis: Redefining Your Future

Do our challenges with mental illness determine our destination? Is there hope beyond the diagnosis?

In recent years, there has been a big push to defy the stigma of mental illness. Awareness of the complexity of our emotional and mental well-being can help in finding solutions to better mental health. But awareness alone does not solve the problem. While compassion and understanding in the community can open doors for recovery, the path is not simple. It requires an awakening of hope and diligence in the heart of those that struggle with mental illness.

The key to success lies within the individual. Letting go of pride and seeking the help of trained mental health professionals can help us find the tools we need. Letting Go of Pride

Diagnosis or Death Sentence?

Correct diagnoses of mental health disorders can help individuals receive much needed resources. However, a diagnosis can also feel limiting. In my own mental health journey, as much as I needed help to understand the scenes or horror that were bubbling up from within me, the reality of their effects felt life-shattering. The trauma I was dealing with was overwhelming and in so many moments, I felt powerless. The diagnosis of PTSD—and other disorders—seemed to affirm that powerlessness.

It was bad enough that I was too weak to stop the traumas of the past. The fact that I couldn’t simply shut off the trauma’s effects made it worse. It felt like my life was not my own and that the reality of mental illness was a death sentence for the life I worked for. I had to ask, Does the reality of mental illness determine my destination?

The answer is often as complex as the diagnosis. But in short, the answer is no. Mental illness does not have to determine our destination. We have the ability to choose the direction our life will take. Life experiences can alter how we get to our destination, but we can choose where we end up.

Choices at the Crossroads

The journey seems simple enough when we hear motivating messages outlining steps for recovery. But putting those steps into action is often beyond challenging.

When I started my journey towards healing, I wanted a checklist of things I could mark off. I thought I could work the list, wash my hands of all of it, and move on. What I didn’t understand was the impact the trauma had on my mental, emotional, and physical energies.

The daily tasks that I used to be able to do without much thought exhausted me. The desire to hide from the realities of the abuse that happened so many years earlier fought against the desire to move forward. I was trapped in a vortex of intense emotion. It was difficult to see beyond the roadblocks of fear and discouragement.

What I learned was that being in control of our destination means accepting that there are parts of the journey that we can’t control. I could not control the effects of the trauma I suffered. The past could not be changed. I didn’t even have much control of the speed of my healing. But at each crossroad, I could choose to give in to despair or hold onto hope for better things. There is hope beyond the diagnosis.

Focus Forward

Focus is crucial in determining our destination. Obstacles arise, and they need to be navigated. But they cannot become our focus. Our emotions can cloud our ability to see things as they really are. If they are left unprocessed, they either fester and eventually explode in ugly ways, or they can harden us, limiting our ability to connect with others.

Not allowing ourselves to feel and process the difficult emotions inhibits our ability to focus on the future. Sometimes the temptation is to sit and wait to be rescued or to focus on the causes of our situation and spend our energies throwing blame. We can’t see forward if we are looking back.

Accepting the reality of the hard emotions frees us to combat the challenges that threaten our mental health—and often our life. Processing the emotions helps us see past the trauma and focus on the pieces of light scattered throughout our experiences.

Hope Beyond Diagnosis

Do our problems define us? In a way, yes. But they do not have to condemn us.

I love inspiring stories of overcoming impossible odds. Abraham Lincoln’s journey from a sorrow-ridden, difficult childhood is one of my favorites. His story is riddled with loss and an abiding “melancholy” or what is now called clinical depression. But his struggles did not determine his destiny. They were simply part of the journey.  

Rising above mental illness does not mean permanently deleting its reality as part of our lives. It is about diligence in focusing forward. It’s about diligently working through our trials with a belief that overcoming is possible. It is about holding onto the hope that there is strength and beauty to be found in the process.

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.” – Lincoln to Isham Reavis, Nov. 5, 1855

In the end, our challenges with mental illness do not have to determine our destination. We have the ability to choose each step of the way the direction our life will take. There is hope beyond the diagnosis of mental illness. We can choose where we end up.