My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 15. I was 12 then. I grew up not knowing what was going on, how to deal with the situation. I formed my own little bubble wrap protection around myself, and created another world for myself.
Decades later, I am still reeling and dealing with the impact that this mental illness has had on my family and myself. It sucks beyond anything, and if there were just one thing I would wish for, is that I didn’t have a brother with schizophrenia.
After all this time…
I wanted to start this blog, because I realise that it doesn’t seem to get better the older I get. The older I get, the more heavily it weighs on me. And I know there are many in my shoes as well. Whether a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend, there are caregivers and people who’ve had to deal with this nastiest of diseases.
I want to share real experiences and to let you know that you are not alone. I am the last person to tell you that it’s all going to work out, and you know you don’t need to hear that kind of bullshit from me. Hence the blog’s name.
I am going to, however, be very frank and share stories of survival and just plain getting by. Hopefully, that gives you some comfort along your journey.
Let’s journey together.
And if you can, I would like to also hear your stories, so I too can feel moments of shared empathy. If you’d like to share and see your stories published here, please check out the Contribute section. And feel free to contact me on yazz@notaprettypicture.com
Peace.
Yazz.
A small favour: If you like what you see, please share these stories with anyone who might be interested in them. And it would be greatly appreciated if you could support this voluntary and non-profit initiative by following Not A Pretty Picture on Facebook. Thank you!