Big Life Changes Impact My Mental Health Recovery

One concept that’s helped me a lot in recovery from mental illness is this: recovery is not linear. It seems simple, but understanding this helps me be aware that the recovery process may have peaks and valleys. It also helps me be aware of the changes that bring on peaks and valleys, like big life changes.

How Big Life Changes Can Impact Mental Health Recovery

This year, I had a big life change: my long-time boyfriend and I got our first apartment together. There was a lot of adjusting for me from a mental health perspective, like grieving leaving my cat behind at my mom’s and just the general anxiety of adjusting to a new space and a new lifestyle. Even though this was something I’d long been looking forward to, it hit me harder than I expected.

I’ve been in a state of recovery with my anxiety and depression for a good while. Still, these life changes impacted that. Thankfully, anxiety and depression didn’t overtake me too much, and I’ve been okay since. But it got me thinking: we often think of big changes as detrimental to the progress we’ve made.

In the video below, I discuss this in more detail, including how big life changes might be positive for your mental health recovery.

Accepting that Mental Health Recovery Is Not Linear Helps Me Cope with Big Changes

Acceptance is a big piece of my recovery process and even how I exist with my mental illness. Still, it wasn’t until I got to thinking about how my acceptance of mental health recovery is non-linear that I realized the role it plays. Because I accept that recovery isn’t linear, when a low point in recovery does come along, I can focus on whatever is happening instead of thinking that it might destroy my recovery. As far as I’m concerned, it won’t.

Big Life Changes Are Inevitable But Don’t Have to Derail Mental Health Recovery

If there’s one thing I hope you take away from this blog post, it’s that big life changes — or any changes in general — don’t have to derail your mental health recovery. Changes bring discomfort and uncertainty, true, but they can also be positive. Even if they’re not positive, you can still work through them and get through them without completely undoing the work you’ve done.