An Impartial Review of my Book + Updates

Hi! How are you all doing today? Is there something you’d like to share? If so, please leave a comment; I’d love for this to become a place for safe discussion!

Today I want to share an act of kindness that was done for me. Ashley L. Peterson of ‘Mental Health @ Home‘ read my new book and thought it worthy of writing a review. I feel honoured and tremendously grateful. I love reading Ashley’s insightful blogs and truly respect her dedication to the cause. Her support of little old me – a tiny fish in a huge pond – means the world to me. The thought that my book is worth reading and reviewing is incredibly touching. I’d like to share her review of my book with you and also mention that you should really read her work and take a look at her other book reviews.

The Review

I Will Not Be My Mental Illness: Let’s Recover Together by Karina Pommainville-Odell, a fellow blogger, is an invitation for the reader to join the author in working on a better life with mental illness.

The book’s tone is friendly and encouraging, and positive in a realistic rather than over the top way. Chapters are short and easy to read, and it’s very interactive, with exercises for the reader to do and questions to promote reflection. It’s not diagnosis-specific; rather, it addresses common issues that come up across diagnoses.

The author describes herself as a failed perfectionist, and offers suggestions for dealing with perfectionism. She admits that things haven’t always gone well, and shows a willingness to laugh at herself: “it’s important to note that much can be learned from someone who’s made nearly every mistake in the book. It’s also helpful because we can go through the process together instead of me acting all professorial and perfect. News flash – I’M NOT!”

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) concepts are incorporated in several of the chapters. The author uses personal examples to illustrate concepts like cognitive distortions and reframing self-limiting beliefs.

There are also several chapters on emotions, including one that addresses being able to separate yourself from your emotions (and your illness, hence the title).

I Will Not Be My Mental Illness is a hopeful look at the recovery process that also freely acknowledges that hiccups can occur along the way. It’s also a reminder that we don’t need to be perfect; trying works just as well, and this book offers a friend to join you in that.

Other News

On another note I’d like to share a few personal updates about this past week. I worked a lot but today I have the day off which should do me good since I was getting pretty tired. The good news is that my meds are balanced now so I feel much better. The annoying news is that this has nothing to do with my psychiatrist! When things weren’t working with the change of meds I stopped by my pharmacy to let them know and get advice. They said they would call my psychiatrist to ask him to call me but he didn’t. The day before yesterday he finally called only because it was our actual scheduled appointment. My phone didn’t ring for long so I just missed it by seconds. He left a quick voicemail asking me to call him back. I did…only to reach the secretary who said he was with another client.

What in the f***?! How do you get another client in under a minute, especially when we had an appointment booked? Why did he even ask me to call back?! I really needed to let him know that the new medication he prescribed really didn’t work so I went back on my old one. The only reason I can do that is because I have leftovers of that medication but if he doesn’t update the prescription I’ll be s*** out of luck really soon. Thanks for nothing! What’s also frustrating is that I’ve mentioned to him that my phone doesn’t ring long so if ever I don’t answer just please call right back and I’ll pick up straight away. I guess not. Have you guys experienced any ‘medical professional’ incompetence?

At least I have another piece of positive news…by happenstance I came across a client at work and we got to speaking about book writing. He writes on the topic of dog training and has a ton of experience in the field. It turns out that he’s looking for an editor and today we’re meeting to discuss it. I’ll be paid per hour for the work and there are 5 books to potentially edit so this is looking really good.

1. I’m a broke student

And

2. I most definitely want to augment my writing experience … It’s my passion!

Inspiration & Motivation for the Day

With all that said I’d like to share some of my latest Instagram posts for a little boost of encouragement! Oh and some cuteness…we all need cuteness!