Dear Mental Illness

Hello old friend,

or should I say enemy.

For far too long have I suffered under your controlling hand,

my thoughts and actions becoming yours as my tortured soul wilted away.

Ignorance became less than bliss,

turning my once healthy body into a parasite leeching onto the happiness of others.

Feeding on my every thought,

you taught he me how to hate,

my body, my mind, my life.

First you took away my laugh,

and then, my smile.

As if that weren't enough,

you took my friends and my family.

Everything I had once known was now in your posession.

You gave me two options: sucomb to your wrath or breakthrough the adversity and thrive.

I for one, 

everytime,

will choose the latter. 

Free from your chains,

I run.

I run into the arms of the loved ones you left behind,

and the new life that has saved me from YOU.

I am here.

I am safe.

I am not defined by my mental illness.