stronger than my diagnosis

I'm a little emotional right now and that's OK. Emotions are a part of what being human means. Emotions just are. They don't define me or control me. And today I'm emotional because I've been thinking about when I first reached out for help with my mental illness. Dates tend to be a little fuzzy for me because I remember life through the events and not the passing of time. I believe that it was February 2014 when I finally broke down and ceased to function. That landed me in the inpatient unit and from there, started me on this journey or recovery and acceptance. It isn't easy. It's painful at times. But the moments that are victories, no matter how small, are moments that make me feel like a new person with a new perspective on life.
Sometimes I stop and think,  "how did I get here?" and my answer always comes back to,  "one step at a time". That's the interesting thing about walking no matter which way you face as you walk, either backwards or forwards, you cannot look both directions at once unless you have tools like a mirror or a camera. But even then our perspective is warped.
In this world, the priority is to get ahead. Get ahead financially socially, industriously and physically. I believe that those are good things to pursue, but we go about it wrong. It becomes a selfish pursuit that leaves oneself alone and unfulfilled. Alone and unfulfilled. What a terrible state of being!
I remember when I was on the inpatient unit the first time, thinking, "now I've actually gone crazy" and "what am I going to do now?". It was one of those moments where you just tell yourself to breathe one more breath, walk or crawl one more step, and to never truly give up on hope. I've been back in that moment a few more times in the last two years of my recovery. There will always be defeats and victories. It's not about winning or losing. It's about what you do when you are defeated or victorious. I hope that I can simply keep my eyes open, embrace the process, and no matter what not lay down and give up. I want to be that voice to others that tells them,  "you are worth every battle won and stronger than every battle lost.". I want to be more than my diagnosis, more than a statistic. I want to be me. I want to be able to say every day, "I am stronger than my diagnosis.". And I want that for you, wherever you are.