Dave's Progress. Chapter 127: The Final Chapter.

So, after 126 chapters, this being the 127th, I have decided to call an end to entitling my posts "Dave's Progress". As the last chapter was a particularly positive one, suggesting that, if not entirely recovered, many of us at the Pathways Group are well into the process of recovery, I have made up my mind that this might be an appropriate place to end calling my posts by that particular name.
Indeed, anyway, "recovery" to many is an ongoing process, not with any solid end goal. As many of us in the group have chronic conditions (i.e. they are treatable, but not curable), the suggestion that any of us are totally "recovered", including myself, is perhaps to misconstrue the concept of recovery. So, as an alcoholic might call themselves "a recovering alcoholic", so it is with us.
Having said this, there are aims to the recovery process, such as being able to live a fulfilling and meaningful existence even without the complete abatement of symptoms, and also finding an identity beyond the strictures simply of illness. I have remarked before how many come to identify themselves entirely with their condition, giving it so-called "master status", often describing themselves as "a schizophrenic" or "a manic depressive". The process of recovery, in part, is about getting beyond such labelling and claiming (or perhaps reclaiming) an identity outside the boundaries imposed by such definitions.
Many topics have been covered over my 126 chapters, many to do with the stigma surrounding mental illness, many about my own experience, and also a few on my thoughts on the treatment of mental ill health. There have also been some which have nothing to do with mental health at all, and which I hope have proved that there is more to me, and indeed to anyone, than just my or their diagnosis. And, I do hope that, in some way, the chapters reflect an ongoing "progress". After reading over some earlier posts, I do find that they reflect the fact that I was once quite angry about my own treatment and very bothered by stigma. I hope that more recent posts reflect that I have managed to resolve such negative feelings, and have come to be a lot more happy and contented than I once was. Hopefully such "progress" will inspire others to see that no matter how bad things are or appear to be at present, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
So, this is the end of "Dave's Progress", and I am definitely going out on a high. Whereas once life didn't seem to be worth living, it now appears to me to be a great, rip-roaring adventure, one which I seem to appreciate all the more because I have experienced such lows. So, as I venture into pastures new, perhaps you'd like to join me for the ride, for although this is the end of "Dave's progress", it certainly isn't the end of this blog. And, although, no doubt, mental health and the issues surrounding it will remain my main subject, I'm sure there will be something I can think of which reflects the fact that my identity is no longer bound up entirely with mental ill health. In the words of Bette Davis then, "fasten your seat belts, this could be a bumpy ride".