#lifeschallenges

Stand Up or Sit Out by Anthony Candela explores his life's challenges, including poor eyesight and blindness, and his own struggles. It highlights the imperfect nature of humans, including those with disabilities. The memoir aims to provide insight into coping mechanisms and the importance of being kinder and gentler to others.

Our biggest life challenge is learning how to deal with mental health and learning to engage with our emotional and mental health. It's on-going, it is the foundation to our physical wellness to our overall health and wellbeing. It can be one of life's challenges, simply because it's the last thing we engage with.

Before the pandemic struck, mental health was still a challenge. It's become a bigger challenge now because we're dealing with mental health even less than we might have been before.

And then there's our own individual unique life challenges. I've certainly had my fair share. Neuralgia is my biggest challenge.

Hitting rock bottom

I've hit rock bottom trying to deal with it. Most days with a band of pain across the left side and down my face, starting at the temple. The pain is a daily occurrence and I struggle to stay positive. Physically, I feel like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

I'm still trying to work out what I need to do to limit my pain. Anything small can trigger trigeminal neuralgia. It's part of the issue, even something as basic as brushing your teeth can trigger an episode.

Working on a holistic approach

Currently, I am working on a holistic approach, targeting supplements and therapies that can help nerve health. Everyone is different. There is no right or wrong way. It's what works for you.

One thing is for sure, life experiences, genes, our upbringing and environment all can and do affect mental health and that can change how we think and then respond to situations.

It depends on how supported you are

It also depends on how supported you are and how you feel about your life, or how well other parts of your life are going. The more you deal with something, the less that something becomes, the better equipped you become at dealing with other situations.

The CP Diary

My diary is also a challenge, primarily because with a mental disability, my mental health is a work-in-progress. It's one of the reasons I started writing. Now with neuralgia it has become even more of a challenge, as I continue to tap into my own mental health.

A conversation 'about my blog'

A very good friend of mine, couldn't believe how much my blog supported us in our every day lives, and said we would all do well to read and absorb what I write and work on the changes that we need to make. Years on from that conversation I have now added that conversation to my blog.

Mental health is in decline

In terms of my blog it is a massive responsibility, but where we could be making a difference for our mental health, from the stats (which makes me sad) it is clear mental health has further declined to critical levels, with attitudes to addressing mental health being the primary reason.

The CP Diary stats

From the site achieving in excess of 82,000 hits a year, it has become obvious that through political influences, less and less people are tapping into their mental health, even though there is plenty of material on here that can help to kick start mental health.

As an independent author I rely on goodwill and people kindly spreading the word. Please help support. If you fancy grabbing copies of my books, they are available to purchase on my website https://www.thecpdiary.com/my-books/