It is so easy these days for people to judge others because they have a mental illness. It is even easier to take these comments people make and believe them and assume that just because they said them, they must be true. But, that is not the case.

You are not weak.
Maybe you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Maybe you have a hard time talking to people. Maybe you have a hard time finding the motivation to take care of yourself. Maybe you need a little more reassurance that you are worth it. But, none of this, not any of these things or anything else make you weak. Dealing with mental illness is hard. And, if we could eradicate every mental illness in the world, we would, but we can't, not yet, and so we have to accept the fact that they exist and maybe we or a loved one suffers from them. One thing I have learned from not only this community on The Mighty but from experience meeting other people, is that people who are struggling with a mental illness, no matter what specific illness that may be, are some of the strongest people you will ever meet. Some of these people have a hard time finding a will to live but they get up every day and do it anyways, and the kind of strength that takes is indescribable. But not even just that, but all of the different mental illnesses that people suffer from put an unexplainable amount of hardships on the people who have them, but these people keep going and push themselves to live every day no matter what challenges are thrown their way. They choose to not give up, and that takes more strength than anything in this world.

You are not any less of a human.
With all of the stigma surrounding mental illness, it is no wonder that people are terrified of reaching out for help when they don't feel right. They let their illness tear them apart from the inside out because society for years has deemed having a mental illness to mean that we are not human, that we are weird, that we are strange, that we are not normal. But society is wrong. If anything, mental illness makes you more human because it teaches you things about yourself that you never would've known before you were diagnosed and it teaches you how to adapt to all the changes in your life that happen now because of your illness. Mental illness does change us, I will admit that. But it doesn't change the fact that we are still human. It makes us different and sometimes causes us to make drastic changes in our lives to be able to still thrive, but that's okay.

You are not messed up.
It is so easy to think that because you suffer from a mental illness that you're messed up. Maybe you think you're messed up because you don't do things the same way as other people. Maybe you think you're messed up because you don't take care of yourself like you should. Maybe you think you're messed up because you see a therapist. Maybe you think you're messed up because you take medication to feel okay. Maybe you think you're messed up because you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Maybe you think you're messed up because you get anxious about the smallest things that other people around you don't. Maybe you think you're messed up for any of these or any other number of reasons. But none of the reasons I listed, or any reasons you can come up with prove in any way that you are messed up.

You are not undeserving of love.
Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You are just as deserving of love as anyone and everyone else in the world, mental illness or not, you are human, and humans need love to survive. Mental illness sometimes takes a lot away from us but it does not and will not ever take away our need for love like every other human being on this planet. In fact, sometimes we need a little more love and a little more reassurance that things are going to be okay, and that we are loved, and that's okay. It's why it is so important to surround yourself with people that will give you this love and reassurance and support.

You are not broken.
The number of times on a day to day basis in which I say this to myself should be illegal. And the worst part is I know I am not the only one who has at least thought this at some point or another since they've been diagnosed. The day I was diagnosed, I felt like my world was crumbling apart around me, I felt like I was broken, like there was all this stuff wrong with me, I felt like everything I knew was a lie, I felt like I lost myself and that I somehow needed to find all these broken pieces that the depression and anxiety took from me and put them back together. The one thing I have realized since then is that I am not broken. Mental illness does not break us. Mental illness challenges us and makes life a living hell sometimes but it makes us stronger. It makes us able to take what may seem like the ruins of our life before mental illness, and put them back together and feel whole again. No matter how broken you might feel right now, you're not broken, you're just trying to find your whole self again.

Having a mental illness a lot of times means your brain constantly telling you things like these among others that are not true. And in no way is it easy to believe that you are not broken, that you are not messed up, that you are not any less of a human, and that you are not weak. Trying to believe those things is like fighting your brain and telling it that it's wrong and that takes a whole lot of work. But, I can promise that you are not all the awful things about yourself.