In the beginning stages of the illness, training myself to think logically was hard. I was hearing things that were not there in actuality. So, the problem became "what is real?" A lot of times, I would hear things. At first, when I would hear things, I would get freaked out. But, then, in therapy, I heard all these people who had the same problem. It finally occurred to me that it was a symptom of the illness. I got less freaked out.
So, when I hear a voice/voices, I now stop and think. Am I really hearing someone whisper about me? Or is it my illness starting with me again? Most of the time, I've had to say, it's my illness. And then, move on. Training myself to ignore the voices was hard. But, as time went on, I got used to it.
And, training myself to think logically was hard. When I thought I was thinking irrationally, I would stop and ask myself, "Is this reasonable?". If the answer was "no", then I had to re-think my thought. It's doing extra work in your mind. But, it improved my decision making and also my life. Today, it's referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy.
Like David said in response to your last post I too can relate to what you are saying. I have been living with schizoaffective illness for over half of my life. I was diagnosed at the age of 23 and just 48 on March2nd. There will be ups and downs for all people regardless of if they have a mental illness or not. While I currently do not work I am able to do volunteer work and that allows me to feel like I am making a contribution to society.
I hope others reading your post and reading the comments can come to understand that being diagnosed with any mental illness does not mean we need to fear life. We the proper medication and treatment we can live a pretty normal lifestyle.