I’m exhausted about hearing the notions and the misconceptions that people typically have when it comes to mental illness. We are conditioned to believe that mental illness is something that can simply be “toughened out” and to “just get over.” Why? Why are we so ashamed to feel? Why are we hiding the emotions that tug at our heart strings on a daily basis? Why has society convinced us to cover up the deep struggles that we have to face when engaging in life’s normal activities?
My answer: we don’t. We don’t have to tolerate being ashamed for our emotions. We don’t have to apologize for feeling deeply when something touches our souls. We don’t have to give up on who we really are to satisfy the predispositions that others have given us. We don’t have to follow along with the patterns that are harming us instead of allowing us to be who we are created to be.
We are human. We are beautiful creatures. We are alive, but yes, we struggle from something greater than any of us can imagine. We fight a battle during each “easy” interaction that people take for granted every day. We have fallen, over and over again, but we get up each time. We have scars that surpass the superficial aspect of our body and reach to our cores. We have wounds that are continually healing and leave us with difficulties to face when recollecting the most difficult times we have experienced. We have a monster inside of us that we fight to keep quiet at every waking moment.
So how do we change what society has predisposed? How can we impact a generation to believe that mental illness is more than a simple bump in the road? How can we extinguish the fire that has practically consumed who we are?
We learn, we grow, and we share with each other. We discuss what mental illness really is. We hear the ugliest and most heart-wrenching aspects of what this beast has done to our lives. We provide individuals, like myself, with an avenue to be unapologetic for our truest and most complex emotions. We start to recognize that addiction and disorders have become means for us to express ourselves and have helped us toss a blanket over a deeper depressive and anxious states we experience. We become the change we want to see in the world so less people have to suffer.
So this can be it: the beginning of a revolution. If my darkest feelings and emotions help you comprehend a new perspective on mental illness, then the truth needs to be shared. You need to hear about the retraction from every time I hold a razor from remembering every cut I etched into my skin. You need to hear about the times I avoided meals and never ate because I was too fearful to interact with individuals who trigger the post-traumatic stress. You need to hear about the deepest trenches I have hit when the thoughts of being a worthless, pathetic, and irrelevant individual clogged my mind. You need to hear about the contemplations about killing myself—the pills I would take or the pole I would steer into or the cut that would end it all. You need to hear that waking up each morning and breathing are the toughest yet greatest accomplishments I complete. You need to stop ignoring the pitfalls and the aspects of mental illness that you do not want to hear and recognize the validity and severity of the ghost that haunts so many souls.
With that being said, I just ask that you look past what you initially saw. That you decide against the misconception that society has provided. That you forget the stigma about mental illness and take time to get informed about what it really is. That you see people for who they truly are and recognize how beautiful, powerful, and incredible warriors they all are.
That you cease what you envision at your first initial glance and take a deeper look into someone’s soul. Because we all have problems, but mental illness does not have to be one.
