This is the time of year when I usually look back at the last 12 months and try to think of all the things that have happened. I look at what I have accomplished and take the time to appreciate what I have and the good people around me. This year has definitely been a big one; I was one of the faces of Mental Illness Awareness Week across Canada, Daniel and I started and completed The 80/20 Project Educational DVD which will be on sale on MikesStory.com starting in January 2008, we produced many videocasts, movie episodes, podcasts and wrote many articles for MikesStory.com, I have done many presentations to people suffering from a mental illness, family members, siblings, doctors, nurses, students, different professionals, etc. etc. I have done interviews with the media, recorded public service announcements, been recorded via podcast for another website, and the list goes on and on. It is great to hear people tell me how Mike's Story has helped them and/or impacted their lives. For me, this means that all the endless hours I am putting into this project is really having a positive impact on many people and that is what gives me the strength to continue.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season and say thank you for your support and encouragement. Take good care and take the time to enjoy this time of the year with those you love.

Mike

The slow creakiness of waiting
In love with anxious heart breaking…
How? With what within or outside?
Does the warm hand, tiny or large,
Related or unknown provide warmth?
Is the sustenance only physical?
When illness strikes the waiters?
How to reach the feeling beyond
Skin, muscle, tendons or body?
Are emotions better left?
Numb, non-existent, unuseful?
What are tears? Useful to moisten
What? My tears did flow singing
At my sister’s funeral mass.
Otherwise only drops I pay for
Give my eyeballs tears and drip ness.
Is that a healthy state for me?

Written January 9, 2005
Elizabeth Tremain

Sometimes I feel like people look at me and think that my life is all fine and dandy and that I am "cured" from my illness. To many, it may seem that way because when you look at me, you cannot see the struggles I go through. The reality is that I work very hard to control my anxiety, monitor my moods, stay focused, stay very well organized as to not get overwhelmed, work with my support network around me to stay on track, continuously look for tips on how to better manage my illness, etc. etc. It's not always easy and there are times when I too feel like giving up. But I make sure that "giving up" is not an option. When those periods come, I try to remind myself that this period is only a storm and that it will pass just like other storms have passed many times before. As my community worker has said to me many times, when I will look at this "storm" in 6 or 12 months from now, it will probably all be water under the bridge.

Mike