All About Me - #HAWMO Day 5

The top story of today is...YOU. Share with your  readers your proudest accomplishments in the last 5 years. Don’t be shy, tell us everything!

This is a tough one. I write about myself a lot. After all, it's my blog, about my journey. I've pretty adept at describing all of the shitty things about my condition, the difficult, painful, annoying aspects that are my brain's daily existence, and my frustrations with myself in every day life. It's not that I have an issue with being positive. I love positive. I'm a glass half full type of person (most of the time). It's that I have a problem with the positives with me. I'm really, really bad at talking about my good points. When I do, I feel either like a cliche or a used car salesman. But because I'm committed to this writers challenge, I'll give it my best effort. Bullets are easier. They feel less like an ode to myself. 

•  This March marked the nine year mark for my business. I've been a business owner and operator for almost a decade. In these days of high turnover and troubling economy, that seems pretty decent.  

• I began a part time front desk job at a museum/conference center (in addition to my travel business) and within a year got promoted to coordinator, which includes such tasks as managing social media and interviewing potential employees. 

• I started this blog. It might seem basic, in the days where just about anyone can, and does, start a blog, but it's a major accomplishment for two reasons: 1.) the decision to throw open up about my diagnosis condition was a big step for me and took a lot of figurative balls. This goes for all of you #HAWMC people, by the way - you're amazing! 2.) I've had  a lot of people - both those I know and those I don't - come to me and tell me how much they enjoy my blog, and how much it's helped them to not feel alone in their own condition. To me, the ability to help people feel supported and not alone is incredibly rewarding.  

• I started a mood disorders support group on Facebook that now has over 250 members. This might not seem like a lot, but considering it started with me and about 5 friends, not too shabby. (It's called Mood Disorders Support System - feel free to search it an request to join.)

• I completed the Out of Darkness Overnight walk last year, walking 16+ miles overnight to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. I'm training/fundraising for this year's walk and have already raised close to $1200. 

• Myself and two friends organized Go The Extra Mile for Mental Health, a hike to raise funds and awareness for the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. We plan to organize more (and varied) events for this cause in the future. 

• I served in chapter leadership for two industry organizations over the past five (plus) years - Director and Vice President in one, President of the other. 

• I became an aunt to two more beautiful children (seven nieces and nephews now total), and a godparent to one. I realize this is their parents' accomplishments and not mine, but it feels like something I'd like to share. Surely, they inherited something from their awesome aunt, right? 

• I was published in an anthology called Playing & Staying at the Top of Your Game, an e-book written by (and primarily for) women in business. My writing's been published before on blogs and industry magazines, but this is my first piece in a book/ebook,  

• I began writing my first novel. I'm probably about three quarters of the way through the first draft at the moment. This is a long-time dream of mine and while I will probably be the only one that ever reads it, just starting it is an accomplishment in my eyes. 

• I've gone through a lot of shit and made it out on the other side alive. Not unharmed or unscathed, but not broken. Much of the non-mental-health-related parts doesn't need to be discussed here, so you'll have to trust me on this one. At times, I've been a bit (read: a lot) worse for the wear, and there were times I was almost broken. But I wasn't. I got my ass up off the ground, sooner or later, and kept on going, one foot in front of the other, until I got where I am now. Sometimes, life sucks. Many times, cyclothymia sucks, So hell, the fact that I'm still standing on my two feet is, of all of these, my biggest accomplishment.