Lack of Planning impacts Mental Health

A key skill for everyone is the ability to plan. Planning reduces stress in the long run as direction is given. Taking account of unexpected happenings is easier with a culture of planning.  Giving the responsibility of planning to others can have an effect on your mental health.

In the lead up to my experience of mental illness, I came across a number of competing demands on my time.  Ultimately I did not cope with these due to the absence of planning discipline. My neglecting to log and prioritise led to me always doing the most urgent first. I was increasingly lacking of focus as internal stresses built up.

It is easier for us to follow established paths of behavoir. If we have not formed  the habit of planning, whatever progress we make can be very quickly reversed.  I got on the Housing ladder early in life.  I lived my life in keeping to the structures in place at my workplace and communities I belonged to in general. However, I did not develop a personal planning habit. I was later to experience the effects of this weakness in my personal habits.

When coping with the emotional effects of a long term relationship breakdown my lack of personal planning and goal setting soon resulted in a lot of stresses building up. I was easily distracted. I rapidly lost the structure and organization that had been in my life. As these disciplines were not initiated by me in the first place, I did not notice how things were slipping into chaos.  Soon only the bare minimum of activity required for me to function at work was all I was involved in. My appearance suffered. My home environment suffered as well.

I did not realise I was slipping into depression until I found myself in a mental hospital after collapsing at a major airport.

For more on my journey see the book by Zoe A. Onah, “Defying the odds – one man’s struggle and victory over mental illness, and his wife, whose faith in God never failed” published by Destiny Image Europe 

Next time, we look at how planning helped my journey to recovery.

About The Author

Chuck

It all started with Eze (fondly called Chuck) fainting at the airport. When he regained consciousness, Chuck found himself in a mental hospital. He was diagnosed with Psychotic Depression. Over time, Chuck was diagnosed with a range of other mental illnesses with the final one being Schizophrenia. Unbeknown to him about this latest record on his medical files, Chuck carried on with day to day living over the next 14 years until he met Zoe. Over the next 4 years, Chuck and Zoe began a journey of faith to defy the odds of mental illness. Today Chuck’s medical records say NO MENTAL ILLNESS. He defied mental illness and is helping others do the same.

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