I think that most of us can agree that there are few things worse than getting sick. You’re already trying to run to work and get homework done then add on top of that a runny nose and the feeling that your bones are breaking when you get out of bed. I think you get the point here: it sucks. That’s nothing that a quick trip to the doctor can’t fix though, right? Well, imagine that instead of just having that cold for a couple of days, it actually lasts for… well, forever. You’re stuck taking medicine every day, and, oh, I forgot to mention that no one else believes you have a cold. You know you’re sick, your doctor knows you’re sick, but some people just refuse to believe that you of all people would get a cold. Why can’t you just stop having the cold, right? I mean, after all, you probably just want the attention.

Okay, I think you’ve gotten the point from my long-winded analogy that I’m talking about mental illness here. In writing this, I’m going to try to walk the fine line between feeling like I’m just complaining about everything and describing how badly mental illness can just plain suck (disclaimer, I’m probably going to use that term a lot throughout the rest of this). I will say, however, that society has gotten quite a bit better at their perception of mental illness. Regardless, it’s still not amazing, and those of us that suffer from various mental illnesses—1 in 5 of us to be exact—still have to deal with the stigmas and just plain misinformation of most of the rest of the world.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure where to start with this whole thing. I couldn’t tell you what exactly goes on in my head (unless you want to know the biology behind it, because trust me, that’s far more understandable), and I sure as heck can’t speak for anyone else. That’s probably why mental illness is so hard though. It’s invisible and relatively unique to every person that has it. For me, it’s the constant fist that’s grabbing at the invisible lump in my chest and squeezing it, pulling me back as I dig my heels in and try to keep crawling through just another regular day. For someone else though, I have no idea what they’re going through and neither do you. All I know is that it probably sucks, and they probably just need some support.

I can say for sure that the reason mental illness has so many stigmas is probably because it’s so general and ambiguous. Even something that has symptoms that are physical and easily recognizable can be completely misunderstood by most of the general public. The biggest problem, however, is that people like to assume that they’ve met one person with mental illness and everybody else is basically the same right? Um, no? Newsflash, your friend that suffered from depression and panic attacks wasn’t in the same circumstances as me, a human with a mountain of anxiety garnished with light depressive episodes. Basically, all we have in common is a couple of symptoms and the fact that our brains don’t work the way they’re supposed to. So speaking for everyone that I really can’t speak for, please don’t just assume we’re all the same. If we think that you’re special enough to us to open up about our illness, just say okay and give us hugs and ears to listen or whatever it is your human needs.

Secondly, even though the precursor to this paragraph was indeed not the first thing I said, just because I have mental illness DOES NOT MEAN I’M CRAZY. I’m acting crazy probably because you’re being the human equivalent of garbage or something else has triggered me. Basically, just don’t assume that behavior that anyone else could have is attributed to my illness just because I have it. I’m not going to just snap and go on a murdering rampage. Actually, the most likely thing that will happen is that I’ll end up crying in a ball for about a half an hour until I decide that enough, anxiety, you’ve tried to stop me but I’m still me and I’m still sort of awesome when I think I am and I can do life sort of fine thank you very much. I’m a relatively weak and pathetic human being when I’m having my bad days so, world, you’ve got nothing to worry about with this kid.

I apologize if you’ve reached this point of my article and are feeling like you just ran through a whirlwind of jumpy thoughts. Welcome to my brain, thanks for visiting, and I hope you grab a t-shirt on the way out. The point that I’m trying to get across is that you shouldn’t assume anything when you know someone with mental illness. We’re still people and we’re still as unique as everyone else. The only difference between us and a normie is that our brains are going to probably make us not act quite right, and we may or may not be a little bit flakier than your other friends. Just know that we all love you very much because you’re probably amazing for dealing with us in the bad moments. I also wanted to say that I’m not ashamed of my mental illness. I take my meds, and I have my breakdowns, and it’s just another day. I apologize to anyone who may have read this and super disagreed. Like I said, I can really only speak for myself, but I hope that whoever reads this understands that those of us with mental illness are human beans (that was on purpose) just like you and support and an open mind are the best things you could offer.