You have been working too hard, You faced too many problems, You had to take care of too many things all by yourself. You had to deal with violence and abuse. And now it is enough. You can't take it anymore. Maybe you are facing a chronic stress syndrome or suffering from traumatic stress. You plan to see your doctor and therapist. And it appears that you can't go on without taking medication.

You have to decide for yourself what you want to do with medication. At the moment you start taking them, you should decide for how long you are going to keep taking them. Follow the advice of your M.D.

Don't think: I take my pills and I can continue working the way I did. You can take pills. But pills are not really a solution. You should change your lifestyle at the same time. I'll tell you what will happen if you take your pills and don't change you style of life: Because you don't take away the cause of your stress, you body will need more and more pills. Choose between pills and rest and psychological help. You do have to make changes in your life, so you can live longer and healthier and happier.

So make your life easier.

- When you have a stressful job: delegate tasks or quit your job.
- If you suffer from a trauma and are not able to do anything about that: Make a schedule for your day. Wake up at a fixed time; start to work one hour a day. Go outside for one hour a day. When you can't sleep at night: stay in bed, listen to a relaxing CD or guided meditation and get up at your fixed time. Don't plan too much in one day. You also need a lot of rest, but build a new daily schedule and stick to it.
- Ask for help when you can't take your responsibilities by yourself anymore.

In every case: learn how to meditate. If you can't or don't have the money for a course: listen to a guided meditation three times a day. I have been in that situation. Most helpful for me were those guided meditations. I listened to them almost three hours a day and within a few months I could manage my life again. You can listen to free mp3's on the internet or you can just buy a CD. It is not too much money and it can change your life.