I’m surprised how much I’m still able to do. Drive, date, go hiking, make friends, bake… But I am not able to get my graduate degree and I have a hard time cleaning house and I probably won’t be able to work full time. Every day I need to sleep 10 hours at least due to meds, so a job that is more hours just isn’t possible for me. I can’t exercise excessively. Etc. what about for you?
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Usually when you compromise, it’s with another person. But I guess you could compromise on a lack of abilities due to a mental illness.
Don’t exercise excessively. It’s more of a gradual increase as weeks pass by.
I had to step down from being Leader of the entire free world. It hurt my feelings but I like the gold watch.
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I too find it too hard to work with the sleep and paranoia so that is definately a compromise but I do like my life!
Before meds I was a mess. After meds…I’ve been married, a husband, a lover, a father, I’ve travelled the world, I’ve lived in another country, I’ve played sport at not the same level but at a decent one at least.
Yeah. Compromise is the word and it’s revealing! I think you have to compromise with schizophrenia. Your not with the normals anymore but that doesn’t mean you can’t have goals…you can’t try your ass off to do well…that you can’t live a full and realised life amongst the normals!
I know for a fact you can! More power to you! Know your symptoms. Know your meds and just get out there and enjoy yourself!
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I’ve realized that, other than teaching, I can no longer do complicated, stressful, mentally-demanding work. Hence the gas station job, but I am working full-time and mostly supporting myself (even if I have needed help lately), so I suppose that is something to be proud of. 
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I give up social entertainment like a pub or a concert many times, travel to the big city is a continuous nightmare,
And intimate relationships as a partner I can not cope with the constant pressure to hold the relationship
I had to retire from school twice, sleep at least 10 hours per night, escape from friends and abandon my hobbies.
But there have been also good things like discovering this forum.
I either get 10-11 hours of sleep or zero.
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I was working full-time before my psychotic break; that’s a level of functioning I don’t know if I’ll ever return to, though it does give me hope to see people here have made it back (or never even left).
I’m not following the news as diligently as before my break since it stresses me out. In that same vein, I’ve had to cut back on caffeine since it’s also a trigger for anxiety.
I’ve realized I have to really think about my behavior to appear close to ‘normal’ whereas before my hospitalization I thought my behavior was normal by default when it… really wasn’t, looking back.
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I really haven’t made compromises. A compromise is when you willingly give up something dear in order to achieve something else. This illness has robbed me of many things, against my will. There is a huge difference, as you can see.
But now I am back in the game and I will try hard to improve my mental health and my social and professional life. If I can do it, so can you. 
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I’ve had to stop driving. I’ve had to move into a senior living community. I’ve had to adjust to the idea of not always sleeping at night but sleeping in the day hours instead. I’ve had to adjust to twice monthly injections. I’ve had to adjust to the idea that I will never work or have a successful career. I’ve had to adjust to taking pills three times a day, everyday. I’ve lost my R.N. license to this illness.
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Staying alive to help others. Being a nut case.
I can’t listen to live radio or TV without hallucinating and getting head pain, so I listen to media that is prerecorded. Also can’t go out much due to that head pain / hallucination combo from people talking.
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