Here is a nice summer shot of downtown Edmonton I took on a long walk from my Dad’s place from the south side of the river to the north side. After today’s poem, I am going to talk about my recent walking and exercising and how it can help people with mental health issues.
Yellow Liquid Bread
By: Leif Gregersen
July 18, 2018
Silently the old men sip the golden liquid, putting off the total numbness
One man looks around and sees the faces, sees the signs of total madness
Bar patrons old and hateful, filled with beer and faithful sadness
Most felt it would have been better to have followed their teachings to the letter
They each had a reason for believing but saw God to be unforgiving
The yellow fluid slides past the lips soon reaches the liver
It seems to them that beer is the true forgiver
When like now, all ties to fellow man are severed
Each day they face the screaming that is so frightening
They live their lives in dreams and sleep in nightmares
Although the TV screens all seem to be filled with happiness and glory
Each half-drunk patron longs to one day tell his or her own story
Many tried before and after fifty repeats they were told it was too boring
But it is all that gives these people any kind of life or meaning
Poor, forgotten warriors, hell bent on finding some kind of redeeming
And then a man they once had seen in there often but was almost forgotten
Who disappeared at a time when he looked ready for a coffin
Came in with joy and the hope that some of his luck may rub off him
He shows them pictures of a wedding celebration
And of the gifts his long-lost son had gave him
And then the photo with the highest meaning
The one that leaves this tired old man beaming
And showing that deep down he always had human feelings
It is the picture of a baby whose looks can’t be mistaken
This young boy has his grandfather’s face and he even got to name him
The joy resonates throughout the bar that was once his home
And the new grandfather realizes that when he drank here he was all alone
He buys a round and then skips out to use the phone
He never did go back there until he heard an old friend had a heart attack
He could mourn or celebrate there but the spirit in that evil place was far too black
Today’s Blog Entry:
Good day to everyone around the world who follows this blog. Today I wanted to talk about how important it is to fill up your time when you are struggling with mental health issues. I can recall a lot of times when I was on medication that didn’t seem to be helping me that had horrible side effects. One of them made me so restless I could barely sit still to have a coffee or read for a few minutes. What I did at that time was to pace around my apartment, then find a short story in a collection I had at the time, (I would look for a really short one) and then read it and start the whole process over again. I fear that if I hadn’t found things to do in some of those difficult times that my situation may well have ended up much worse.
For a long time I have been filling up my time with different things. I started out working as a security guard, then worked my way up to becoming a stage hand in a union. Working as a stage hand was really hard, I had to know how to do a lot of things and I had to be extremely physically fit and there were a lot of people who treated me like garbage, but the good part was that it filled up a lot of my time, made me tired enough to sleep well, and got me to meet a lot of people. One of the hardest parts of this job though was that it seemed anyone who I was friends with didn’t stay friends after they learned I had a mental illness, and it seemed a lot of the other people in the union that weren’t friends would treat me bad. It is important though to own your own problems. I couldn’t blame people for having wrong ideas about mental illness, and I couldn’t change other people’s minds because they had a poor knowledge of mental illness. I was there to work, to learn, and to cash a paycheque so I could do some of the things I dreamed about for years, like going to London, England.
I have always believed that when a person becomes ill, they need to follow certain steps. The first, and this can take place in or out of a hospital, is to see a psychiatrist and get on medication that works. This can take a lot of time, but it will definitely take less time if you aren’t honest with your Doctor. The next step takes place while a person is still getting used to their medications which can be very difficult. This is where you start to go into therapy and join support groups and take classes that will help you manage your illness better. The next step is to take job training or look for a volunteer job. Then what can be the hardest step of all, I feel a person should get a job, even if it is part-time supportive employment at the Schizophrenia Society like I do. Nothing will make you feel better than to get up, be a part of society, have a reason to shower and keep your clothes clean. Even a volunteer job can be a great idea. If you are having a long period between work, something I like to do is to go for long, long walks, 6-10 miles sometimes. It helps with my weight, it makes me feel great and so many other things. When the weather is colder, I prefer to go to the pool and use the exercise bikes and swim, which are other great ways to keep busy. You don’t need to fill up your day with power lunches and world class workouts, you just need to give yourself a little push to get out, see the sun for a little while be it winter or summer, and try and do a little better each day. Reading can be great too, but there are people I know of who isolate themselves with reading (or video games, or using the computer). Try joining a book club, or having friends over to play video games with you and only play a limited amount each day. At the end of the day, pick up your wellness journal and tell it what you did, how you felt, how you feel you could improve. It will be so much better if you had things to write about other than that you took your medications and watched some TV. Get creative and find ways to meet people like yourself. I hope this helps, much of it is repeated from other blogs I have written, but only because this is so important!
Mental Health coping skills blog by leif gregersen 