I need at least seven hours of sleep to function.

I will power down at 10 pm from now on and then I will go online once or twice every week or two. I know sleep was my biggest trigger and it helps to build your own WRAP. NAMI offers WRAP classes. WRAP stands for wellness recovery action plan. I am in recovery but I decided to seek God more through spirituality and church and prayer. I am not trying to get even with the kids who teased, taunted and bullied me because they didn’t like me. I am able to kind of stand out because of my honesty about my lived experience with my illness but I thank God also for divine intervention. When a peace washed over me in the early 2010s I knew I could carry on. I never really had a lot of friends but I was able to form some friendships through my volunteer work with NAMI and I was a mentor for a few semesters at Mercer CCC my alma mater but I left in May 2019. I was actually getting paid too. I know if I share my story it will help someone else who is going through things now. I even used to volunteer with parents and teachers as allies at NAMI back in 2013 to 2014. I know if I can help others with similar struggles I will.