a little more info…

Going to university with a mental illness (and even a physical illness) in the year 2001 is very different than going to university nowadays.  It is much better now but we do still have a long way to go.  Everyone has a tutor now.  I was never offered a tutor in my chem degree on an LOP. Maybe because on my LOP I got A’s and B’s in most of my classes, so they thought I did not need it.   My parents knew little about university, so it was me, on my own, with a mental illness, figuring it out.  Since the beginning of my illness in 2001 I have had concentration issues, my psychiatrist is and has been fully aware of this from the beginning.  With time I have been able to figure out how to manage my concentration issues (I am told I am a pretty good listener if that means anything).

On my LOP, I ended up taking more courses one semester and that is when I failed the one course and when an Academic Advisor told me I would never graduate.  You know what I did, I graduated.  I did not let one person determine my outcome or dissuade me from my goal.

So, I graduated.  If that is not determination, I do not know what is.  It took me 7 years after my breakdown to complete my degree, and I did it.  I was determined to get my first degree, and I did it, with no tutor, about 20% concentration, parents never involved, a serious mental illness and some accommodations.

And then, in 2010, I went back to school to get my four-year degree.  

I was admitted to a four-year degree in 2000 but because of my illness and because I was on an LOP, I was not allowed to do a four-year degree.  Long story.  Complicated story.  That would never happen nowadays.

My twenties did not include a four-year degree then building up my career and my network.  I would have liked the same opportunities as everyone else, but I did not get that.  Even though I do not have the same work experience as most people my age, I have a lot more life experience than most people my age and even older, which to me, is valuable.  I have a unique outlook on life, sure I work, I try to succeed, but in someways, I know this world makes absolutely no sense, so you cannot take it too seriously all the time.  I take my charity work and mental illness and mental health advocacy very serious at all times, but the rest of the stuff is just noise to me.  I would say more but I do not want to trigger anyone.

Life is not all about success, the pursuit of money and even the pursuit of happiness. Sometimes maybe it is just about being a decent person, treating people right and spreading joy and love wherever you go.  I feel lucky and blessed that the universe did not agree with my plan, because I might not be the person I am today, and I would not have the perspective on life that so many lack.  Life gave me a different perspective and a better perspective and maybe, the perspective we all need.