"I'm the girl who is lost in space, the girl who is disappearing always, forever fading away and receding farther and farther into the background... when you look at the picture again, I want to assure you, I will no longer be there. I will be erased from history, like a traitor in the Soviet Union. Because with every day that goes by, I feel myself becoming more and more invisible..."
- Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation
There is a stigma in our society, especially in the recent generation, that a life that isn't remarkable or groundbreaking isn't worth living. Travelling far away, getting lost in a big city and making a name for ourselves in a niche that is practically impossible. This is our new American dream: to abuse our wanderlust and empty our bank accounts for a wildlife. We see this every day, from mason jars labelled "travel fund" sitting on dorm desktops, to retweets and reblogs of far away and magicial places where we hope to be someday.
But how we live our lives is not what makes it remarkable; getting up in the morning and breathing, then going to sleep at night, and being able to wake up again the next day? That is a luxury that many people lose daily. Life is remarkable because it is life. Being alive is remarkable.
For many people struggling with a mental illness, living a normal, healthy life is a life worth living. While their siblings and friends dream of bigger places and bigger paychecks, those who suffer from mental illness dream of a day where they want to get out of bed, or where they can order a cup of coffee in a crowded Starbucks and not have a panic attack. They dream of a life where recklessness and impulsiveness is not their reflex, but their choice. For those who live with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, a mix of the three or something else altogether, living day to day like someone who isn't mentally ill is a remarkable feat. The fears they overcome and the battling with genetics that they cannot control is a common occurrence for them.
This is not to say that people who suffer from mental illness do not have big dreams. Mental illness does not stop you from big aspirations. Abraham Lincoln suffered from clinical depression his entire life. Robin Williams not only suffered from depression, but dementia with Lewy Bodies as well. Even president candidate Donald Trump suffers from mysophobia, also known as germaphobia. These are people who have achieved great success and overcame their mental illnesses to make a change in the world, for better or for worse.
But the stigma that a regular life is boring and not worth living hurts those who suffer from mental illness, especially in severe cases of illness. It can mislead them into believing that the regular life that they crave is not enough. They may want to speed up their recovery process so that they can "act like normal people", and in the end, that hurts them. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you are sick and need help, especially in a society where mental sickness is not treated with the same concern as physical sickness.
It is not wrong to want an adventurous life, but it is also not wrong to want a stable life as well.
