I know a number of others parenting a child living with mental illness struggle balancing commitments outside the home and feasibly dedication (even personal character) questioned. I struggle as well.  My response and advocacy for others…

Commitments outside the home matter to us for all the same reasons they matter to others – chasing dreams, belief in a cause, financial need/benefit... We are all in!  Sadly, mental illness is unpredictable and inconsistent – patterns and probability limited at best. We cannot forecast the afternoon, tomorrow, or the upcoming weekend…let alone months/years in advance. 

What we need others to understand…  On a good day/week we are still balancing multiple care counsels/appointments for our child, medications and the possibility of an escalated situation…always needing to be two steps in front of the triggers with back-up plans ready for deployment.  On a bad day, we might be navigating the possibility of self-harm or harm to others, while trying to figure out how to follow through on our commitments outside the home in an effort to save the “need to call in” for the REALLY bad days…if you can imagine they can be worse. 

And really this is not a mental health related conversation.  We all have a number of commitments, but the only commitment that matters is family.  We can love other commitments outside the home and give 110%, but ultimately there is no greater love and commitment than to family.