Here’s an excerpt from one of the chapters of the next book in the Still Standing series, where Zoe struggles with her mental heatlh and eventually comes to terms with it:
Everything is awesome.
Imagine feeling amazing. Life is wonderful. You feel so confident in yourself, like you’re the best at everything you do. Colours are more vivid. Birds chirp louder. You have millions of great ideas. You can’t sleep, but it doesn’t matter. You feel like you don’t need sleep.
Your mind is racing and you can’t turn it off. You overshare. You chat at a hundred miles an hour. You feel limitless. Superhuman. Like you could do anything.
Or is it? You start to realise you’re forgetting to do the basics: eat, sleep, wash. You’re hardly eating or sleeping. You close off to those close to you. You buy things you don’t need. You can’t focus. You feel overwhelmed, like the wheels are going too fast and falling off.
Then you realise you need help. You reach out. You cry in their arms. You feel broken and you want to be fixed. You learn words like mania and hypomania. You walk in the park and slow everything down. You learn how important it is to get a balance, to relax, to lean on others.
Slowly, normality comes back. You let go of things more easily. You try to slow down. You learn what’s good for you, and you do it. You smile again.
You look back at your “crazy” time and realise how well you are now. You feel strong and happy. You’re grateful for everything you are, everything you have, and everything you’ve been through. You walk outside, stand tall in silence, looking up to the sky, and you smile.
You’re still standing.
Why not start reading the Still Standing series of books? 📚
Start with Why Change to Vodka? 📕
Then the next book in the series, Everything is Awesome? is due to be published soon. 💛
