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    The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness
    The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness
    The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness
    Ebook129 pages2 hours

    The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness

    By Michael W. Newman

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    About this ebook

    Now is the time, my friend. You CAN change your mental health and your life for the better!

    Yes! It's not as simple as just reading a book and learning. But that is where it can start! And this book is a great catalyst.

    I wrote this book for you, my friend, because I care about you. I may never meet you, but I wish I could! I wrote it because I was once right there, right where you are today. You might call me a "born-loser" who didn’t figure out the good ideas written in this book until I was in my thirties and already married with children - very late in life I must reluctantly admit. Yes, I was hard-headed and ignorant and rebellious for far too long. That was 100% my choice and my fault. Thankfully I was able to change my life for the better, and my mental health improved immensely. Now I want to help you while it can still be easy for you to change your circumstances. I want you to know that you are not forever ‘stuck’ where you are right now with bad mental health. I want you to know that life is full of decisions, and that positive changes for your mental health can happen if you put your own efforts and faith into them.

    That’s simply why I wrote this book. For you to become a better man, to become mentally healthy once again. Life is short. Keep it simple and beautiful, and the world will easily be at your feet. There are unlimited possibilities in your life. You are a child of God, and you have every right to be here and make your life what you will as best as you can. Know all that in your heart as you read this book.

    In this book you will read words like “change”, “decisions”, “choices”, “consequences/results”, “good”, “meaning”, “faith”, and “Godly” many times. I hope you will be able to understand why I use these words frequently and what each of them means for your present and future mental health.

    Lastly, when I sat down to start writing this book, I promised myself that it would not be ‘preachy’ to you in any way. I am not a minister, preacher, priest, or other type of clergy that can answer any or all of your questions about God and religion adequately. And I won’t pretend to, either. This book is indeed based on Christian principles that I have come to know to be true and right, yes. Note also: Neither am I am a mental health clinician. I am only like you – a man with a life-long mental illness. For serious work to solve your deepest emotional problems, you are going to need the face-to-face assistance of a mental health professional in addition to this book.

    Are you ready to take charge of bettering your mental health, my friend? I hope so. Let’s jump in together for mental health recovery with our hearts, minds, and Spirit open - and really get our blood pumping through the body. Okay? Okay!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael W. Newman
    Release dateApr 8, 2019
    ISBN9780463154106
    The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness
    Author

    Michael W. Newman

    Michael William Newman calls himself the original "bozo on the bus" who sits next to you and says he has the key to good living. Instead he asks a thousand questions about you. He is now in what he calls his third chapter of life, which includes mixed martial arts training, writing for a purpose, and being schooled by teenagers having all the right answers. He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his lovely Peruvian wife, The Contessa Julia, and their two teen children, Emmannuela and Mikey.

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      Book preview

      The Ultimate Guide To Life For Men with Mental Illness - Michael W. Newman

      The Ultimate Guide to Life for

      Men with Mental Illness

      Michael W. Newman

      A Man’s Legacy Press

      ©2019

      Please contact the author at:

      mnewman4321@yahoo.com

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes.

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

      This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

      If you would like to share this book with another person,

      please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

      SPECIAL THANKS

      Special Thanks for helping build the character in me needed to write this book are indeed in order to the following good Christian men:

      Will Mahoney, a leathery Wyoming cowboy who has stood behind me since 1991 without quitting and tells me everything I am doing wrong with a scratchy drawl, a straight face, and the threat of a wrestler’s takedown. The guy is tough as a Spanish fighting bull and eats rocky mountain oysters for breakfast. (He does keep me accountable.)

      Todd Sedmak, the nasal-voiced PR exec who also has stood behind me since 1991 without giving up and also tells me everything I am doing wrong, but he laughs about it. He keeps me accountable, too.

      Peter Collins, a no-nonsense mentor who creates zeal for life in me and never lets me get down on myself or my writing, which means a lot because he is a real accomplished cool cat. The finer points of being a dad I am learning from him.

      Chuck Jackson and Chuck Cook, from The Falls Church Anglican, for continuing their dedicated prayer ministry over me bringing spiritual healing to my mind, body, and soul.

      All the gentlemen and pastors in the Wednesday night men’s group at Grace Covenant Church in Chantilly, Virginia, too numerous to mention, and all of them equally important in encouraging me and praying for me to be the best I can be. (To note: the group’s alpha-male leader, Jim Wright, is more equal than others.) Meet with these Godly brothers regularly and one understands what Agape means.

      Every adventuring man who lived with me at Ivanwald in Arlington, Virginia during some rough years of my young adulthood. The house leader, Bentley Craft, was especially instrumental in keeping me Spirit-centered. The same goes for the Fellowship men when I stayed at C-Street in Washington, D.C. and Cedar Point in St. Michael’s, Maryland. We participated in some really tough live-fire, no-holds-barred sessions together. All that was the catalyst to the true lasting changes in my life.

      My son, Mikey, for holding my feet to the fire daily to believe there is a God who loves us unconditionally. I tell you, if the Angel of God put the Test of Abraham to me, I would surely fail.

      And okay, a few good Christian women, too: my lovely daughter Emmannuela (she shows me what beauty in a girl’s heart can become), my beautiful wife Julia (she listens, and deserves much more in life than I can ever give her), my loving little sister Tricia (I get more from her than I could ever return back), and my publishing advisor Stefanie (without her guidance and support you would not be reading this book).

      Lastly - though all honor and praise must deservedly first go to Him – The One and Only. I just can’t fathom why You went through Your Passion for me, Jesus. I stand here before You having absolutely nothing I can offer You other than humble thanks.

      Peace of God the Father to us all!

      INTRODUCTION

      Why did you write this book, Michael?

      I wrote this book for you, my friend, because I care for you. I may never meet you, but I wish I could! I wrote it because I was once right there, right where you are today. You might call me a ‘born-loser’ who didn’t figure out the good ideas written in this book until I was almost 52 years old and already married with children - very late in life I must reluctantly admit. Yes, I was hard-headed and ignorant and rebellious for far too long. That was 100% my choice and my fault. Thankfully I was able to change my life for the better, and my mental health improved immensely. And now I want to help you while it can still be easy for you to change your circumstances. I want you to know that you are not forever ‘stuck’ where you are right now with bad mental health. I want you to know that life is full of decisions, and that positive changes for your mental health can happen if you put your own efforts and faith into them.

      That’s why I wrote this book. For you to become a better man, to become mentally healthy once again. Life is short. Keep it simple and beautiful, and the world will easily be at your feet. There are unlimited possibilities in your life. You are a child of God, and you have every right to be here and make your life what you will as best as you can. Know all that in your heart as you read this book.

      One thing to note: As you are reading, you will probably say, Michael, you already mentioned that idea a few pages (or a chapter) ago! Why are you repeating it here again?

      Well, my friend, I am not very good with analogies, as my 10th grade biology teacher will surely tell you, but let me try to explain here why I repeat ideas so many times in this book:

      I don’t want you to think of the ideas and concepts in this book to be like ‘hamburgers’ that you eat one and move on to the next one in line, one at a time. Rather the ideas and concepts, as you read them, are more like a ‘stack of pancakes’, where, when you take a bite, you are biting a part of the entire ‘stack of ideas’. Many of the central ideas are presented all at the same time in one chapter, and then repeated in different places in other chapters, because the ideas overlap in the many important areas discussed in this book. Understanding the overlap of ideas is key to understanding this book and how it will help you.

      You will read words like change, decisions, choices, consequences/results, good, meaning, faith, and Godly many times in this book. I hope you will be able to understand why I use these words frequently and what each of them means for your present and future mental health.

      Lastly, when I sat down to start writing this book, I promised myself that it would not be ‘preachy’ to you in any way. I am not a minister, preacher, priest, or any other type of clergy that can answer any or all of your questions about God and religion adequately. And I won’t pretend to, either. This book is indeed based on Christian principles that I have come to know to be true and right, yes. Finding a good man of the cloth to associate frequently with will benefit you and your mental health substantively. And I am also not a mental health clinician; I am only like you – a man with a mental illness. For serious work to solve your deepest emotional problems, you are going to need the face-to-face assistance of a mental health professional.

      Are you ready to take charge of bettering your mental health, my friend? I hope so. Let’s jump in together and really get our blood pumping through the body. Okay? Okay!

      Chapter I - It’s Not Your Fault

      Let’s try something here that you definitely need to do, because I one time needed to do it, too:

      Get angry. I mean really angry. Feel it because it is real. You have every right to be angry for having a mental illness. But as you get angry, say this following sentence in front of a mirror.

      "It’s not your fault that you have a mental illness!"

      Go ahead and read that again, my friend. That’s my opening encouragement to you as we begin a journey in this book of understanding ourselves – you and me, men who suffer from mental illness – and the lives we will live better if we give ourselves the chance to make changes.

      Perhaps you wrongly blame yourself for your mental illness. What does that achieve really? Anything? No, nothing. It helps you with nothing more than spinning your mental gears fruitlessly, and you know it. Now, repeat the paraphrased title of this chapter this way, loudly and boldly as often as you need to:

      It’s not my fault that I have a mental illness!

      Say that in front of a mirror every morning and evening for ten days in a row, and I guarantee you will see a significant change in how you view yourself and your situation in life. This will be the start to improving your mental wellness.

      If you get only one idea to clamp down on from this book, let it be that phrase. (But I hope you get more from this book than just that phrase.) Repeat it every morning when you get up from bed and repeat it every evening before you go to sleep for the night. At the very least it can’t hurt, right?

      But why should I believe that?

      Believe it because it’s true, not just because some guy you will probably never get to know or meet is writing a book telling you to believe it. Believing it will change you for good forever. It’s not your fault in any way, shape, or form that you have a mental illness. Many people will wrongly try to blame you, but you must not believe them. You need to believe that sentence above in your head and your heart yourself before any other positive changes in your life can be made. Until you accept that your mental illness is not your fault, you are going to be in serious spiritual pain and

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