Often, it's a combination of the two, such as work going great/husband walks out.
All the time, Simon is trying to tell you something, but you are not listening. Judgment Day arrives on schedule, but you are the last to see it coming ...
Even then, with your life in pieces, you are thinking in terms of quick fixes - meds, nutritional supplements, membership in a gym, yoga classes ...
Then you can go back to your old life.
Ben Franklin defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
The real tragedy to our illness, as I see it, is that far too many of us cannot see a way to incorporate major change into our lives. Then - when meds fail us, when recovery tools fail us - we're the first to give up on ourselves. We start believing what others tell us, that we're treatment-resistant, unemployable, impossible to get along with.
Acknowledging our limitations means we don't have to give up on ourselves. It means we have a life to go back to, even if it's not the same life.
Third rule of managing stress: Find the life that fits. Keep making the necessary adjustments. Once that happens, it's amazing how well the meds and recovery tools begin to work.
