A full change in medication was the first step to a major recovery for me. That alone saved my life. The previous one was amplifying severe depression, something known to be possible for a quite small number of patients taking it, and that landed me in the hospital after a near miss. After years of passively taking what I was prescribed despite a steady worsening of my condition, I began advocating for myself because I knew things weren't working. I just marked two years since the switch and the difference has been indescribable.

A good counselor who I see weekly has been and continues to be a major factor. I look forward to that one.

Being open with friends about what I went through after hiding it for a long time and paying a very high price for doing so has proven to be a huge well of support. On those occasions when I need to talk about it, which aren't as frequent as even a year ago as my recovery has progressed, people are there to listen. I've also learned that some of those friends have dealt with their own struggles, which has deepened our connections. Now I'm also there to listen.

A weekly mountain bike ride with friends where the first rule is, the slowest rider sets the pace, gets me outdoors and active and offers some stupid good fun with a lot of laughs. In fact, one of our running jokes is what we call the Dumb Scale to determine how dumb, and therefore how fun, the ride was.

Keeping a pet in the house, in my case a dog who is a constant presence and who needs a daily walk, and therefore gets me outside and moving every day, has been key.

Limiting my news intake. I do write to my state and federal representatives and senators when I feel the need to offer my thoughts and also attend the occasional meeting on issues of concern, but I don't spend all day every day refreshing the pages of news sites to catch every detail, which can foster a sense of hopelessness. Balance is needed there.

Getting off social media was, apart from the medication switch, the single best mental health decision I've made in the past two years. There's too much fighting and too much negativity. Removing that from my daily life has lifted my daily mood. I communicate with friends through texts, emails, and especially face-to-face and don't get bogged down in the vortex of online anger and abuse.

As far as online support groups go, I stick to ones like this that are moderated and tied to professional organizations, while staying out of ones that are filled with people who freely post misinformation and rage. I know a lot of people in them are good people who have suffered severe problems, but I don't want to get caught into the anger and especially the attacks on providers, most of whom are doing their best. I don't find going down that road personally helpful.

Those are few of the things I've done, and apart from the mountain bike group, which I've been involved with for decades, all of them have become part of my life in the last two years. At present all of them are working for me.