Michelle Dickinson is a passionate potter who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for eighteen years and is the author of the memoir Breaking Into My Life, a rare glimpse into a young girl's experience living with and loving her bipolar mother. Michelle has overcome years of neglect and confusion surrounding her mother's mental condition and is here today to share how she came out on the other side a vehement advocate for mental health and ending the stigma.

Through her self-work and internal healing, Michelle has reached a place of forgiveness and determination to hold space in the mental health community and remove the stigma for those suffering and their caretakers. By transforming her experiences with her mother's illness from harmful to empowering, Michelle is making massive strides when it comes to providing help to those who need it.

Michelle wants you to be courageous and take the first step towards healing, instead of pretending that what inhibits you doesn't exist. Out of your greatest messes comes your message, and this episode is all about transformation and gaining the confidence to choose the life you want for yourself instead of the life you know.

You are not your past, and from this moment forward you have the power to create what you want for yourself and claim it as your own. Michelle is here to provide advice, hope and inspire your perseverance so that you too can triumph over what ails you.

How has Michelle inspired you to take your painful experience and turn it into something positive? Share your thoughts with us in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• Gain a glimpse into life as a child caregiver for an undiagnosed bipolar parent
• Tips for creating self-care boundaries and practices in the name of self-preservation
• Why you need to let go of the limiting beliefs you may not even know you tell yourself
• Signs that you need to look within yourself and do the hard work of self-discovery
• The importance of abolishing the stigma around mental health and providing help to everyone who needs it

Quotes

"Our needs were always on the back burner. If I had a bad day at school or there was an upset with a girlfriend, that didn't matter. What mattered was if she had what she needs. So I quickly learned how to hide my own needs and put whatever I needed on the shelf and really just focus on her." (6:07)

"She kind of gave me permission to create that boundary and that space and love myself and take care of myself, when no one had ever done that for me." (12:00)

"Self-care wasn't something that I grew up learning. I was having to learn how to create boundaries and care for myself, this was an act of caring for myself by doing that." (17:06)

"You don't realize how these experiences from your youth and your relationship with your mother alter what you believe you can and cannot do in your life." (21:52)

"I would want every child to know that they are perfect, whole and complete, just as they are, and that their potential is limitless. " (23:57)

Links

Breaking Into My Life Website

Breaking Into My Life by Michelle Dickinson

Find the full episode post here: https://pbtinstitute.com/101

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Connect: Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/InspireEmpowerTransform Free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenHackingBetrayal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebiSilber LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debisilber/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debisilber/ Watch my TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX30i6nC7ro