It was a perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning when I had my big realization: I, Bruce Schutter, needed to get out of my own way if I wanted to become a true Mental Health Warrior. I mean, it sounds simple, right? But trust me, there’s nothing easy about arguing with yourself in the mirror at 7:30 a.m., trying to convince yourself that the battle for your mental health is actually winnable.
You see, I’ve spent over 20 years struggling with Bipolar, Alcoholism, Anxiety Disorders, and PTSD. And when you’re living with those challenges, there’s this little voice that becomes uncomfortably loud in your head. “You can’t do this,” it sneers. “Better let someone else handle it because you’re a mess!”
That voice kept throwing up roadblocks, insisting I couldn’t handle my mental health, couldn’t make decisions, and certainly couldn’t trust myself to pick the right path. So, instead of taking charge, I just watched from the sidelines as my challenges played tug-of-war with my life.
That’s when I knew—step one in becoming a Mental Health Warrior, and in using the Mental Health Warrior Program that I created, was simply this: Get Out of Your Own Way! I had to stop putting up mental roadblocks. The self-help approach of the program showed me how to take charge of my mental health, starting with the most basic (but most challenging) lesson: Letting Myself be in Control.
Step 1: The Mind Games I Played with Myself
Imagine you’re a novice driver in a city you’ve never been to before. You’re gripping the steering wheel, and every single road sign is screaming, “Don’t go here!” “Turn back!” and “Do you even know what you’re doing?!” That was my mental landscape. If a thought looked remotely like confidence, my mind’s defense team quickly built a 10-foot wall around it, installed floodlights, and topped it off with barbed wire for good measure.
The Mental Health Warrior Program’s first step—Get Out of Your Own Way—demanded that I actually challenge that inner security system. But honestly, it felt like I’d issued myself a legal summons. I was Bruce Schutter, not exactly Iron Man, and now I was supposed to take down the Iron Curtain of self-doubt? Yeah, right.
But here’s the twist: it worked, bit by bit. The self-help approach meant I had to show up for myself every day, even if it was just to move one brick from that wall. And as I chipped away, I realized that my fear was just that—a wall made of flimsy, unfounded fear.
Step 2: Trusting Myself – A Comedy of Errors
The next step? Trust myself. Ah, yes, trusting myself—that sounded about as realistic as me auditioning for Cirque du Soleil. Why trust my decisions when I had 20 years of “what-was-I-thinking” moments? My mind was a curious place where every thought was under suspicion. I could barely decide if I wanted coffee or tea without wondering if I was making a grave life error.
But the Mental Health Warrior Program’s self-help approach taught me something radical: trusting myself didn’t mean making perfect choices every time. It meant giving myself the permission to make choices, period. Whether those choices were “right” or “wrong” was beside the point. The act of choosing was the point because each choice was a step toward building my own mental autonomy.
So, I decided to practice this newfound trust with the most critical of choices: picking a sandwich at lunch. Turkey or ham? My inner critic yelled, “Ham is a disaster! Turkey’s way better!” But then I thought, “Is there really a bad choice here?” I bit into the ham with shaky confidence, and guess what? My sandwich choice didn’t trigger an existential crisis, after all. Turns out, the world didn’t end because I made a decision. Score one for Bruce.
Step 3: Battling the Roadblocks
Now that I had cracked the code on getting out of my own way and trusting myself, the real fun began: dealing with the pesky roadblocks my mind would throw up whenever things got tricky.
For example, I’d sit down to start a new project or do something important, and without fail, that familiar whisper would begin, “What if this doesn’t work? Maybe you should wait for a better time.” Ah, the old “wait until later” tactic—a classic in the handbook of procrastination.
One day, as I sat with a pen in my hand, poised to write something for the program, that voice popped up again, warning me to double-check everything for the 10th time. But instead of following it, I looked it square in the metaphorical eye and said, “Not today.” I wrote, I stumbled over words, and some sentences looked like they’d been thrown into a blender—but I kept going. Because the program’s approach wasn’t about being flawless; it was about moving forward.
It was incredibly freeing to know I had the power to simply move forward, imperfectly but purposefully, no longer bound by those mental roadblocks!
Pooh's Take on My Warrior Journey
A while back, I met up with Winnie the Pooh, who, as it turns out, was dealing with his own mental health hurdles. He listened to my story, nodding with his wise, honey-dipped smile. “Bruce,” he said, “I think I understand. You learned to get out of your own way so you could trust yourself, even when things looked… a bit wobbly.”
“Exactly, Pooh,” I replied, impressed by his knack for nailing the big picture. “It’s about recognizing that no one else can move us forward—we have to do it ourselves.”
Leave it to Pooh to simplify the whole concept. “That’s the goal, my friend,” I said. “When we embrace this self-help approach, we realize we’re in charge of our actions, even our bounces. We can decide each day what works for us and how to manage those pesky voices that say we’re not capable.”
My Daily Power as a Mental Health Warrior
I won’t lie—being a Mental Health Warrior requires daily maintenance. But now, instead of being run by my challenges, I run them. Each morning, I remind myself that it’s my day. I acknowledge that the voices might pop up, that fear might try to run the show, but I have tools. I have a program that I can rely on, and most importantly, I have me.
Some days, I still reach for that turkey sandwich only to decide, “Nope, I’m in the mood for ham.” Some days, my anxiety tries to convince me I need to triple-check every move I make. But now I simply shrug, tell myself, “We got this,” and take that step forward!
Embracing Self-Help: A Lifelong Adventure
The Mental Health Warrior Program’s self-help approach isn’t a quick fix. It’s a daily commitment, a constant invitation to step aside and let myself live freely, without the constraints of doubt or fear. I’ve learned that trusting myself doesn’t mean doing everything perfectly—it means doing things authentically.
As I left the park that day, Pooh waved me off with his usual cheer, “You’re a Mental Health Warrior, Bruce!” And I couldn’t help but think, maybe I am. Because the real battle wasn’t with my challenges—it was with myself. And by getting out of my own way, I had finally unlocked the strength to live my life with me, not my challenges, in charge!
Bruce Schutter
Creator of Mental Health Warrior Program and Challenge Coin
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