Life Rant – Mental Illness

Let me ask you this – if you saw someone with a broken arm or leg and had an obvious temporary physical impairment… would you chastise someone for going to help him or her? No… I’m assuming you’d instinctively go over and offer help.
Why then can people not see the value in lending a hand when people have a temporary mental impairment? Band-Aids aren’t only for physical wounds, in the case of mental wounds they’re just shaped a little bit differently.
It never ceases to amaze me that even though throughout my whole life the brain as been described as the most important part of the body, but as soon as it gets hurt it’s the fastest part of the body to be dismissed. Is it not common understanding that the brain itself is more important than a limb? There are people whom we see active in society who are missing limbs or paraplegic … however they still g o on (not dismissing their grief or denying them their obvious need for help too) , but tell me one person who has survived without a brain , or how grave even the smallest lesion or injury on the brain can affect the whole body. We neglect mental disabilities because they are not seen – and in a society where seeing is believing that automatically means someone is making it up or faking their symptoms searching for sympathy. How does this make sense ? If I tell my friends I’m going through an episode of depression I get the responses “oh cheer up” it’ll get better! Oh right…. this is nothing life is all butterflies and fairytales. It hurts , I even undermine my accomplishments and my symptoms because society is telling me I’m okay and I’m making it up and I need to suck it up and just “just cheer up” or look on the bright side…” excuse me? Whatever happened to not judging someone’s actions unless you’ve lived their journey.. and I can tell you for sure not many have lived mine at 19 years of age. Does that make me a super human? No. Better than others? Of course not. Have iy harder than other@? Who am I to judge . Everyone is only aware of their own situations and in such an individualistic society ones own problems become the very worst circumstances ever and no one has it worse off .
People with mental illness are the strongest I’ve ever encountered . You have to be weak before you are strong , and trust me, I know the feeling of being weak. That girl in your class beside you who never complains and is always smiling? She takes frequent anxiety attacks and yet keeps going. That guy on the soccer team who goes out “with the boys” every weekend and seems to have it all together? He has frequent breakdowns and can hardly handle his home life. That person in your residence who seems really anti-social and has sheltered herself from the rest of the house? She has an eating disorder and is so self conscious she hates other people seeing her. Finally, there could be someone who got the “big break” and got compassionate leave from school because of her major depression and it seems so sweet because there isn’t anything actually wrong with her right? She smiles and functions normally , goes along and laughs with the crowd. That same girl can hardly get out of bed in the morning . Taking a shower is a huge accomplishment … everything seems like so much effort most of the time it seems a lot easier to end it . What comes to mind? Oh.. that poor poor girl she shiuld get help or snap out of it or something and concentrate on the good things in life. Wow! Bet she never thought of that one . But I know she dis, and tries every day and always tried to make others happy since she had forgotten how to get there herself. How do I know this? That last girl is me .
I got such a hard time for taking leave , comments like “oh you’re so lucky you don’t have to write this exam/midterm/paper!! Excuse me I’d write 100 papers and do whatever school work you wanted to bbq be over this. You think depression is a joke? An irrational excuse for getting a hand out every now and then? I pity you for being so closed minded.
I pity a lot of people in this world. Pity quickly turns to hate. How can you be so obsessed over worldly issues when they just don’t matter in the long run and there are always more important things to deal with. I find it so hard to walk through life knowing that the majority of people are worried about when their next manicure is or when they can go on a date, how much stuff they have – they do contribute to little things to worry about in life but honestly … why can’t everyone just value mental illness and put aside the stigma.