15 Quotes That Helped Me in Mental Illness Recovery

My mental illness took over my life for 10 years. I was not functioning, not working, not living, as I was engulfed by my OCD, anxiety and depression. The time I spent in treatment was the hardest experience of my life, but also the most enlightening. Often on hard days, I would look at quotes to help me feel not so alone, and to give me reminders of hope. Here are 15 quotes that helped me make it through recovery. I hope they can help you as much as they helped me.

1. “We accept the love we think we deserve.” — Stephen Chbosky, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
2.  “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” — J.K. Rowling
3. “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” — Wilhelm Stekel
4. “The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.” — Juliette Lewis
5. “Recovery is scary but also is remaining exactly the same.” — Anonymous
6. “Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.” — Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
7. “Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.” — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
8. “Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.” — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
9. “…to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated.” — J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”
10. “This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace on Earth.” — Sadako Sasaki
11. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway
12. “I’m not a complication of symptoms. Not a casualty of shitty parents and an even shittier make up. Not a problem. Not a diagnosis. Not an illness. Not something to be rescued. I’m a person.” — Jenifer Niven, “All the Bright Places”
13. “Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer.” — Dorothy Rowe
14. “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make other people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.” — Robin Williams
15. “You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the night before, and that, my love, is bravery.” —Anonymous