Between the folds of the illness

Wandering through the labyrinths, I barely notice that subtle element which I carry away with myself, and this silently grows to become an integral part of me...

The name of the labyrinth is mental illness, and the essence of many wanderers' identities often becomes embedded within it. Puzli would often express anguish over the fact that he did not know what his true self was. After 12 years of illness, he did not know how to piece the fragments together to thread his identity. Which were the memories to be reclaimed? Who was the owner of the myriad tangent thoughts that shot through his mind? How many of his past beliefs were due to the illness? Puzli has swayed back to his memories of himself before the illness claimed his mind, he tried identifying himself with emotions left completed 12 years back. But he also realized their incongruity to the present. The present has given Puzli an opportunity to carefully flex his capabilities, and in doing so, launch the path of rediscovering himself. It will always continue to be a tough path to pave, but he can already see the rising sun in the horizon.
I have experienced that over time, sufferers of mental illness often construe their identity in dominant shades of their diagnosis, and the stigma suffocates them further into the recesses. The real person is lost somewhere between the folds. It can be a scary prospect to leave behind the comfort of this identity to begin the search for the uniqueness that sets you apart as an individual. It continues to be tough for Puzli to shed the elements of his illness from his identity, but I am always amazed by his resilience.
The shadow of mental illness still lingers on lightly, but it does not scare us now.