When years of therapy, medication, and taking all of the "right" steps didn't lead to the relief she was hoping for, Olivia set out to forge her own path toward happiness and living free of the mental chaos that was her daily reality.

Over a decade of trial and error led to the creation of The Self-Empowered Path that teaches how to take your life back from bipolar, anxiety, and/or depression through self-love, control, and ownership. All in a way that caters to your life and your needs.

"We are not helpless or hopeless."

Excerpt
Beat The B.A.D.
Olivia Reiman
Copyright (c) 2023 Olivia Reiman

"The Self-Empowered Path

I have a theory, one that I become more of a believer in when I revisit my own journey and hear the journeys of others that apply this work. That theory is centered around the detachment and reattachment of three significant areas of our lives - self-love, self-control, and self-ownership. When detached, they lead to things like bipolar, anxiety, and depression manifesting, but when reattached, they lead to our healing and freeing ourselves from their control. I've felt firsthand how mental illness thrives off of fear from that disconnect. I've also felt firsthand how mental illness withers away when we lead with love from these core connections. When worked on, these areas build up the belief, love, and trust (what I like to call your mental B.L.T.) within yourself and your life, which ultimately cultivates happiness and freedom.

Self-Love. This is one of the first things to go when bipolar, anxiety, and/or depression start to manifest. Criticisms creep in, desires aren't prioritized, worth starts to sink, more reactions happen out of fear, etc. We tend to not notice things at this stage because it can be such normalized behavior in our society/culture. It's also treated with the most surface-level "self-care" approach, a common problem I see when people try to do work here.

Self-love is about acts of care, but it's also about choosing healthy/positive perspectives about ourselves, compassion for our thoughts/emotions, our capacity to forgive, and our ability to trust ourselves. Some "me time" is great, but if you don't feel at home or safe in your own body/mind, "me time" will feel like a bandage on a perpetually uphill battle. On a self-empowered path to better mental health, self-love can be foundational and help you feel grounded while moving forward and doing work that might feel more challenging.

Self-Control. This is what we start to lose next and where we start to notice more of an issue. Whether that be control regarding our actions, thoughts, emotions, reactions, etc. This is where we might cope in unhealthy ways, like the ways I mentioned in my story. We might also get swept away by worry, tears, or anger, and typically is the space of "I know" I could be helping myself but not actually doing it. Often instead of exercising self-control, we'll look towards external control. So rather than take responsibility and guide ourselves from within, there might be blame, avoidance, or feeling stuck.

Self-control is all about the internal (the only thing we can control), even if it doesn't feel like the easiest thing to do right now. And by no means does control mean not allowing ourselves to think or feel negatively; in fact, it's very much the opposite. It's getting familiar with our triggers and reactions while learning from them and helping ourselves move through those experiences. Sure we can change how our lives look by adjusting our priorities, letting people or things go, and even wholly changing our surroundings. But if we don't exercise mental and emotional control, our problems simply follow us. Practicing this will ultimately be the walls that will help you weather any storm.

Self-Ownership. This is the last to fade and often ends up being the breaking point for most people..."