Now, it was two weeks ever since I was in to hospital. Finally, I came to terms with my condition as I was diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and symptoms of schizophrenia.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t worried about my diagnosis. I felt peace, knowing that the same God who brought me out of the situation was going to sustain me. He was in control in the past and He would still be in control.
To think that I used to be completely afraid of injections and I was able to receive injections every day, without complaining was nothing short of a miracle!
Now, I was at a different hospital where I was given more independence to do my own thing. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I felt feelings of guilt and shame whenever I reflected on what happened. It was like a short period of depression.
All sorts of negative thoughts came into my head. But I’ve learnt now that it doesn’t help when you dwell on the negative things of the past. Always look onwards and upwards and if you are going through a rough patch, remember there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
My period of depression gradually passed away whilst I started interacting with the other patients in the hospital.
I noticed that many patients I interacted with had scars on their arms that I could tell were a product of self harm. There were others who didn’t have physical scars, but I knew that many of them had mental scars. Strangely enough, that gave me a sense of comfort because I realised that I was not alone.
There’s a bible text that says “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” That text definitely became a reality to me as I found that, by spending time with other people who were going through similar things to me, we were able to encourage each other and subsequently, I was able to recover quicker.
Another factor that enabled me to recover quickly was that my parents regularly visited me. I could truly feel the blessings that God was bestowing upon me through my relations with my family and all the patients and staff in the hospital.
After a week at that hospital, the doctor, my mum and I decided that I would be transferred from hospital to a daytime rehabilitation centre.
I ?will never forget that day because my heart was filled with inexpressible joy. I had no idea that I would be released from hospital that quickly because some of the people had been in there for several months.
I was so thankful to God because He knew how much I longed to be reunited with my siblings and have the comfort of being in my own house.
I was told by one of the wonderful mental health nurses, at the hospital, that the rehab centre had a really nice atmosphere and I would enjoy it there.
When I arrived, I realised exactly what she meant. I had an amazing experience at the rehab centre. All the staff were so friendly and they ran creative activities during the day. I picked up new hobbies, such as gardening and cooking. Also, I learnt a lot about coping strategies, routines, sleeping hygiene, and many other things that I will discuss in my future blogposts.
But the biggest lesson that I learnt was that when you stop thinking about your problems and start focusing on the positivity: spending time doing activities, listening to others, building friendships, etc, you start to healing without realising.
As we are continually receiving the blessings of God, so we are to be continually giving. – {PP 187.4}
Please comment and share your stories about being in hospital or rehab and what lessons you learnt from it. I hope you enjoyed the blog and stay tuned for the rest of my restoration journey 🙂
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