Sep 23, 2020
The floor is lava and the bridge is eggshells when you have a mentally ill parent. When it's the only normal you have, you normalize the abnormal. We often want a diagonally different life when we are old enough to choose. Mental illness affects the whole family. It can lead to many outcomes including depression and even suicide.
Michael Shook, originally from the 5-1-8, is a retired educator and writes at Medium.com. His upbringing made him, pleaser, protector, educator and survivor. Shaping his life around education. Like many children, school becomes the safest space. A place where they can just be as much of a kid as their emotions will allow. It often catches up with you as an adult.
Often feeling like childhood didn't exist we spend a lifetime healing the wounded child in us. There is often a vacancy that we somehow never fill or heal. He tells us the journey that he has taken from cradle to California.
Check out another article he also wrote for Medium called, Mental Illness is not a Choice. He is still behind his 3000 mile wall of safety.
Don't forget to support our team, Patrick's Shamrocks. October 4, 2020 is the Out of the Darkness Walk for R.I.T.A. in Saratoga Spa State Park 12866. Hope will not be canceled in 2020. Not at a time when we need more light. Please join a walk in your community and support American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by donating, joining a team and finding an event in your area.