Mental Health Help

As an autism mom, today I'm thankful for my own individual therapy sessions and for psych drugs.  I have come to realize over the years that I have some issues with anxiety, depression and ADD, and I'm grateful for the skills I learn from my therapy sessions to cope with these issues. 
I'm also thankful for my psychiatrist who understands how to correctly manage these symptoms with medication.  I've always been a strong believer in taking care of your mental health.  It is not a weakness, but a strength to acknowledge that you may have mental illness.  It is strong to see something that is affecting your life and those around you and to take the steps to manage it.
I can't tell you how much I have learned from my therapy sessions: The most important of all was finding myself again after losing my identity in the overwhelming experience of just being an autism mom.  I learned that I need to take breaks throughout the day to do something for myself.  I need to shower every day, put on makeup, eat, exercise (not that I am so good at remembering to exercise, and I just may be too good at remembering to eat).  As they say, "You can't give anything from an empty well."  You are the well, and you need to replenish it by remembering what you used to enjoy doing, how you used to take care of yourself, before you had these wonderful but challenging kids.  Investing some time in yourself can only help those you love.