Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that I have one, or know the torture and pain those that do have one go through on a day-to-day basis. However, I do suffer from anxiety and am fully aware of how horrible that can be. Anxiety can be a very controlling thing, and at times I feel like I'm going crazy, or just merely driving myself insane. I try not to make it common knowledge, as it's my own personal issue, and I'm a very private person. I don't tend to talk about my feelings or how things affect me. I have my own way of dealing with my issues; some may dispute that this is 'not healthy' or 'doesn't help anything to keep everything bottled inside', but that's my way of dealing with things, and it works for me. I don't want people's pity, and hate the idea of people talking about me.
It just seems to me that over the past year, more and more people have developed mental illnesses of some kind. I am not for one second arguing this, however, I just don't understand how people make it so public. The last thing I, and others that I know that suffer with a mental illness, want is for people to know. I just don't understand how plastering it all over social media, constantly highlighting the fact that you suffer from one helps anything. It leads onto questions, and people you barely know experience what it is you're going through. I understand that having support is such a contributing factor in overcoming it, but surely not this way? Your short term, temporary feeling does not mean you have a serious issue. There's a difference between having a bad patch in life for a couple of months, and having a mental illness.
Yes, I understand this is some people's way of dealing with it, however, it appears to be more and more glamorised. Mental illnesses are NOT a fashion statement. It completely has the ability to change people's lives. It just seems to me that more and more people do not understand the severity of these illnesses, and are very quick to give themselves a self-diagnosis.
Similarly, I cannot comprehend that mental illnesses are still not taken as seriously as physical illnesses. Just because you cannot see it, does not make it any less serious. The way the mind works is a torturous thing, and thoughts in your head cannot be simply blocked out. Your thoughts have no pity for you, grasping to what seems to you like your last string of insanity; they are constantly there, screaming out for you to listen and acknowledge them. During the day it is so easy to block it all out, to just simply ignore them. Yet, as night creeps up, the thoughts somewhat get louder and your mind goes into overdrive. Then all you can do is lay there, revelling in the thoughts filling your head, ecstatic that they're being listened to.
It is not as easy to just 'forget about it' or 'cheer up'. If it were that easy the problem would have been resolved a hell of a long time ago. That is the issue with society; it cannot be seen therefore it is easily fixable. WRONG. I honestly wish, for SO many people's sakes, that it were that easy. It's not easy to get through it, and that's okay. You are no less of a person for not being able to get out of bed today.
Stop labelling sadness as depression, moodiness as some form of bipolar disorder, nervous behaviour as anxiety and a couple of sleepless nights as insomnia. Society as a whole needs more recognition of mental illnesses, their side affects, and more awareness of what they truly are. That is the only way to overcome these illnesses.
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