I finished my programming at TK this past Wednesday, the 12th. I "graduated," as it were. MOST EXPENSIVE GRADUATION EVER. Seriously, in the time I was there I could have paid for 3 years at Wesleyan.
For those of you new to my blog, I will tell you why I was IN rehab (rehab is easier than saying "residential treatment center" over and over). I am not an alcoholic, and I am not an addict. I don't drink anymore, and aside from a few disappointing romps with pot, I have never touched drugs. Most people think that that's all that rehab is, and so those most people are very quick to judge and make assumptions. WRONG! I was at Timberline Knolls for many reasons. First I'll rattle off the official psychomumbojumbo diagnoses. I suffer from major depressive disorder, type II bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder (this one explains a LOT), generalized anxiety disorder, self-injury, an "unspecified" eating disorder (aka bits and pieces of all the finer parts...), and post-traumatic stress disorder from over 20 years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as a brutal rape less than 2 years ago. So I hope that, for anyone who DID come here to judge me, you're thinking, "Oh shit, I'm a terrible human being." You're not terrible, just a flawed human. If you continue to judge me, well...I know that only my God can truly judge me, and have fun when he's judging you. :)
So that's that. I was residential at TK for 2 months. Then I did PHP there from home for 6 weeks. Home, however, was NOT an environment conducive to my recovery, so I then moved to Magnolia House (Mag), which is PHP but you live at a house near TK, so you have more structure and more support. I lived at Mag for 4 weeks. Home is STILL very far from "awesome," but I suppose I'm far more equipped to handle it now than I was 10 weeks ago. I start IOP tomorrow at Good Samaritan for 2 weeks, and I'll be back at work in 1-2 weeks. Life is comin', and it's comin' fast. I don't know, and I don't WANT to know, where I'd be if I hadn't been lucky enough to go to TK. I shudder to think of the alternative...
Anyway! So I thought I'd pick this thing up again as a type of recovery blog. I need to get back to this journaling thing, and I'm too lazy for manual writing, so here I am.
This blog is really interesting...it's amazing to look at all of my posts from the midst of depression/suicidal ideation. I don't want to think about those times, but I need to remind myself of where I was in order to see where I'm going.
To close...TK was the best decision I have ever made. EVER. I dropped almost ALL of my past friends right before I went in to treatment, and came OUT of treatment with the best friends I could ever have imagined. Friends who like ME. Not my car or my money or my people-pleasing codependent tendencies, but ME. Honestly, it's WEIRD. These people know EVERYTHING about me...and still want to be around me! BIZARRO. So, TK, thanks for the memories. I've finally gone a couple days without crying, yay! And I haven't called or texted Mark begging to let me come back since Thursday! I can't wait for alumni nights, where I get to see (almost) everyone I love so dearly. So to TK and everyone I met there: Thank you. I owe you my life.
God bless and good night.
And until next time, take care of yourselves...and each other!
So very happy for you!!! And glad you are out and about and finding structure and happiness outside of TK too. You rock!
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