Life as Cerys

  Whilst Christmas brings enjoyment, excitement, indulgence and treats for many, Christmas to me has always brought an element of anxiety and significant self-criticism. This post is to help myself, and hopefully others, understand the complex experience myself and others with mental health problems and/or eating disorders can go through at Christmas My combined issues of Bipolar and Bulimia means that I have a rollercoaster of an experience every festive season. Christmas is one particular time of year that has a tendency to trigger a manic episode - or at least hypo-mania - due to the excitement that Christmas brings. I would probably explain the mania at Christmas as an enhanced version of how I felt as a child on Christmas day but prolonged for weeks on end and often detrimental to my mental and physical health. This year feels a little bit different with Covid and the tier restrictions we are facing. My feelings towards Christmas 2020 are less hypomania in the sense of happine...

28/06/22 Edit: Whilst this is no longer my current life situation, having dropped out of my Masters - something which I still struggle with accepting - this blog post, as it is my first, is still important. The message still remains: that I am forever learning how to live life at my own pace. I think this is especially important to keep as a post after my recent blog with Rethink Mental Illness discusses finally trying to come to terms with my 'success' and timeline being different to others. If you had told me in 2019 that I would have have made the conscious decision to leave paid employment to focus on my mental stability, wellbeing and recovery, I probably wouldn't have been surprised. But at the time, when I chose to start a Masters and continue to pursue a career that wasn't suitable for my wellbeing, you couldn't have told me otherwise. I guess there is nowhere better to start than with some reflection, even if it means you have to look back at your mistakes....