As someone in treatment “sober living” with a diagnosis of “schizophrenia” there’s nothing more humiliating than to be treated as less then because of words prescribed to one’s identity. Where’s the compassion in recovery, when mental health is not understood, or substance use used to blame a person for a condition or reaction or temperament that’s because of misuse. What then is to be learned in sobriety? I think in sobriety you regain trust, and it’s the type of punishment long term that does the justice of empathizing with anyone who knows you and punishing you for being behind in life or not a paid employee, or blogger. There are no short-cuts in life, I can assure you that any place I am in public is taken seriously by me, whether or not I’m famous or yet have a recognizable face or identity. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in treatment, is that I’m not allowed to watch TV or the news, for some reason has been the trend in treatment. I don’t think that being in treatment shelters me from what’s going on in the world. I think upon reflecting on war, or racism, or any social or political issue brings everyone to a tough silence of difficulty, where talking becomes less easy, and speaking becomes more difficult. So it’s not that I’m not partaking in the discussions public online, I just think that based on who I am race and ethnicity alone, shows that I would be affected by the wars current, so it would be my job, not to justify war or speak to it, and engage with my audience online about how things should be, I would hope that my influence would encourage resolution, or prevention, not the opposite. I think I’ve learned a lot being here, its been a good experience so far, not without it’s challenges. My current challenge is to continue to stay in treatment and continue to work part-time, without being able to explain to my Boss what’s going on with me, is hard to not disclose. I’ve also been recently court ordered to attend 3 meetings a week, and that’s also something positive going well for me, that talking about makes me look bad, and is difficult for me to explain, or comprehend in what way, spreading rumors about me “texting” or accusing me of being “schizophrenic” or “inappropriate” is true, its not true, so it hurts to be treated that way. It won’t be until I get sick, that I get blamed as affecting others, and that hurts on top of already not feeling well, to be blamed as though anything wrong with me is affecting anyone, or be accused of not making sense, or speaking poorly in any way to anyone under any circumstances. I can only be honest as to my limits as a person, and request for consideration when reviewing my information I provide, is to show I’m working hard, being given a hard time, don’t have it easy in life, and doing my best. Right now, everything hurts.