Let's take it from the top

Have you ever wondered just how many mentally ill people there are around you at all times? Just as there are those with cancer, emphysema and chronic headaches, there are people with schizophrenia, bipolar and major depressive disorders all around you. And although many think that if you are "crazy," you are either locked away in an institution or out on the streets living as a homeless person, this is just not true of a majority of those afflicted.

Well, here's the beginning part of my story. I'll take you through a journey of madness while living a "normal life" with a wife, young child, mortgage, full time job and the like. Juggling all these things can be tricky while afflicted with schizophrenia. However, with the right support system in place, a strong and insightful mind and a bit of luck, you can perservere....and even make it look seamless to the observer that you would not want to know your secret.

As I sit at my desk this morning, I have already survived some hallucinations. As I looked out the window about an hour ago, the birds seemed to be screaming, car horns blasting as they passed by on the highway adjacent and people speaking to me yelling at the top of their lungs. None of this was really that dramatic to the observer, it is just that my senses were on overload.

It's a good thing that my career is at the point that it is (an Assistant Vice President, Branch Manager of a bank) or else I would not have a place to have some solace while I am at work--my office.