I struggle with Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and PTSD. Over the last few years I found myself in a very dark and lonely place that I honestly didn’t think I would get out of. This dark place led me to psych units across the eastern part of the United States, and as time went on I became increasingly worse. Medication combination after medication combination, the doctors tried to help me, and though the meds did help some, I always felt that they were more beneficial to those around me than they were to me. After countless therapists and psychiatrists I finally found one who I connected with, and that helped me tremendously because part of my problem was that I was losing hope in the mental health field.
Over a year ago I found myself in the lowest place that I’d ever been (at least, that’s what my disorders told me). I was hospitalized yet again, and it seemed like there was only one inevitable path that my life would take: One way or another, at some time in the unforeseeable future, I would die by unnatural causes. That was not a decision to end my life, but rather a realization that eventually it would turn out that way regardless of what I wanted at the moment. I’ve always been a writer, but I hadn’t written in a while because I had lost all joy in the activities that sustained me, which is a very dangerous symptom of many mental health issues.
However, I ended up finding 3 other like-minded veterans by complete chance, and we started writing. Together, we ended up forming a group called The Combat Hippies, which uses spoken word poetry in performances to spread the message of Post-Traumatic Growth to more people, as well as try to bridge the divide between the veteran and civilian communities while simultaneously bringing awareness to the 22 Veterans that are taking their lives everyday. We began to perform at different theaters and colleges across the state of Florida, and I felt that I’d found my calling.
However, I found myself realizing that there was a whole other side to me outside of being a veteran, and that side had experienced the patient end of mental illness quite a bit, so I decided that, along with my work with The Combat Hippies, I would also venture out to speak to the civilian population independently, and that is what I did under the name of A.S. Minor. Now I try to use my own personal experiences to try to help people not feel so alone, and to also spread the message of Post-Traumatic Growth to the civilian population. I still struggle quite a bit with my own mental health issues, and putting it out there for the world to see has oftentimes left me feeling naked, alone, and in pain, but I recognize that it’s a part of my own journey to recovery, and if I can help even one person to feel like they aren’t alone in that dark place then I feel it’s worth it.
My name is A.S. Minor and I struggle with Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and PTSD. I am a United States Army veteran, and member of the veteran performance poetry group called The Combat Hippies, and I also perform on my own, all in an effort to bring awareness to mental health, and to spread the message of Post-Traumatic Growth. I can be found on all major social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, and I’ve also put out a book of poetry.
A.S. Minor can be found on his website, Facebook and Twitter.
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