Progress

Progress:

Improvement or movement towards a predetermined goal. Often used to describe production or gaining knowledge.

The moment I took the 1st step forward in excepting help by starting therapy, I started a forward progression. When I started it seemed like I was a snail moving up a giant mountain, an almost impossible task, to change my life, my way of thinking and to finally become myself. But with each session I went to and with each tool I was given I started to gain confidence, I was no longer a snail facing an impossible task.

My forward progression was always met with hills and valleys. I always pushed through to the other side and I learned that the greatest lessons were learned when I was pushing through these tough times. I learned to love who I was because I made it through each valley and I learned that what made me strong was that fact that I was able to do so. I started to enjoy using my tools, they just weren’t tools anymore but new ways of living and enjoying life. Facing valleys that used to cripple me now became reasons to live, I learned that with out valleys in life I wasn’t truly living..

I remember when I was writing “Why I Run” I would send finished chapters off to my editor and he would always write back saying we need to establish an arch in the store line, so fare your book is filled with so many ups and downs there will not be a climax to the story. I would always explain that depression is a roller-coaster ride that there are triumphs and set backs everyday, that the story line like life is never perfect. People need to see what it is like to struggle, so they can learn and understand what mental illness is about. And for people who struggle they need to know that there not alone, that even though they will face challenges as they learn to better them self’s it is all part of life. But once the forward progression is started and they take on each challenge, they change there lives, start seeing the progress they make even if it is small, even if it is a day at a time it is so worth it.

Progressing and moving forward in life to become who you are met to be is not a race, it is a pleasurable experience with no time line.

This week as I am nearing my 5 year anniversary of starting therapy I took the time to reflect on my progress. I made a list of then and now:

Then: 5 years ago

Depressed

Trapped

Helpless

Waiting to disappear

Unable to enjoy life, or love who I was

A failure in my own eyes

Low self esteem

Negative all the time

Now: 5 years after starting therapy

Positive in my thoughts

Doing things I love, yoga, running, writing, meditation truly enjoying life!

2 successful books

Helping 1000’s of people

Public speaker

2 new books in the making

Book signings, tv, radio interviews ect.

letters of recommendation from experts in mental health

It feels good to be Darcy Patrick, which is something I have never said before….

The good news is that in just 5 years of starting this journey I have end 38 years of struggling. Nothing is going to stop my forward progress, my onward movement to reach my destination of truly being who I am met to be, doing what I am met to do, being myself. You have to start the progress yourself no one can do that other then you! Being that snail and facing that mountain is not a struggle but a life changing and enjoyable task. Start your own progress today! Become who you want to be it is never to late.

“Only with open conversation can we break the stigma behind depression, let’s start talking and do it together”