Look Backwards

Other people's achievements can bolster your courage, and remembering your own can do the same. Beyond Blue reader Larry Parker gives himself this pep talk when he hits the panic point:

"Larry, look at what you have survived. You've moved almost two dozen times in your life. You've been jobless. (Many times.) You've been (essentially) homeless. You went through a brutal divorce. You've even been hospitalized."

How does listing his travails help Larry? Because it helps him see, in comparison, where he is today. He made it through. In his words:

"Underneath my mental illness are simply enormous, even incalculable, mental reserves. And if my illness strikes again, I need to remember those reserves are there, even if I can't get to them right now."