My Story, Part 1 of 4: From Ministry to "the Crazy House"
My name is Mia, founder of Pain Unwasted, and I just wanted to personally thank you for visiting my website www.painunwasted.org. I truly hope you find it helpful in your journey towards a healthier mind and body.
I wanted to introduce myself and share a little about my story, which will give you a window into not only why Pain Unwasted exists, but my passion for why I do what I do.
A little about me: People say I'm a great story teller. I'm pretty friendly and easy to be around. I love to laugh, and I enjoy conversations that are meaningful and go deep. I care about people and truly desire their good. As I meet and talk with people, I feel that God gives me insight into their thoughts and feelings for the purpose of helping them in some way.
I was a missionary for over 15 years with a fairly well-known relief organization. I loved the work I did so much, giving it my heart and soul, sweat, blood, and tears, that it didn't matter that my pay came out to less than minimum wage. We provided on-the-field training to youth from 20 countries in disaster response, conducting children's programs, providing medical assistance, and more. We built churches, shared God's Word, taught English, and provided hot meals to thousands of people. We also worked in our local community tutoring children in poverty, and gave parents a break while we did crafts and told Bible stories to their children. It was great!
Then something happened that would change everything...
After years of working for the organization and being married for over ten years, my husband and I had no children of our own. We tried for 3 years, and despite being told in that time that we would not be able to have children, our first bundle of joy finally came--and so did postpartum depression.
At the time, I didn't know what it was. "How could I feel so dark and empty when I had finally become a mother?" was my 24/7 nagging thought. My daughter was so cute. But I never really slept more than 1 hour at a time. I would burst from my sleep, afraid that someone had taken my baby away. My thoughts would race through the most horrible scenarios. I would cry, withdraw and eat! Thirty candy bars a day was hardly enough. Nothing restored my joy.
Finally, I crashed, nearly drove my car off a bridge, and had to be hospitalized for suicidal and homicidal ideation.
Wow! I had hit rock bottom.
And as a looked at all the people in blue jumpsuits (what all the patients wore in the behavioral health facility I was in) around me, a wave of reality hit me like a ton of bricks...either I was going to figure out how to get better and get out of here, or the behavioral hospital would be my new home.
Now I’m doing something I never imagined...I'm helping people like me recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness and how to appropriately respond and help others in a crisis so that more people can enjoy a better quality of life. I'm sharing my story along with tools that really work so that people can avoid hitting rock bottom, or find their way out in the midst of the darkness. I'm helping people realize their purpose despite the pains of the past and to live a life of joy and service without burning out!
I'm doing this because it was done for me! I know firsthand how valuable and transformative it was to have a guide that truly cared and was concerned for my future wellbeing to come along and share their knowledge and expertise with me. And it made all the difference that that person had lived experience and was literally using the tools they shared...a person that was not just speaking from theory...a person that saw my worth and the beauty I had despite the ashes.
I know how important it is to have a person truly believe in you, even when you don't believe in yourself...to know that there is a person that sees your potential and believes in your ability to get from where you are to where you truly want to be...a person that can see past the shadows and darkness into the light and joy that is awaiting. I know this type of relationship can not only improve life, but save life.
But more on that later...
Stay tuned for the next blog post to see what happens next!
-Mia