Happy #WorldMentalHealthDay. For the first time in a while, related to this topic & this day, I’m happy. I’m happy bc it “feels” like the day has finally become one, where the term “mental health” isn’t looked at primarily/(or exclusively) in a negative light.
I’m seeing posts & messages all over about openness, self-care routines, how MH is just a part of life, much like physical health is. Might be one of the few silver linings of the pandemic, that everyone realizes our MH is something we can’t take for granted, that outside factors impact us, & that we must work on our brains/CNSs just like we do our bodies.
Wrote a post the other day that drummed up some interesting convo – about how, even w the increased talk & sharing, there’s still so much bucketing going on. “I/we have this disorder & you/they have that disorder…so it’s way different.” Ok, that’s one aspect that still is separating us way too much. However, here’s another, even outside of labels: The comparison of emotional pain & suffering one person to another.
I just don’t get it, logically. Take it at it’s most basic level: thoughts. If you are in a car accident at a young age & are terrified every time you get into a car moving forward…& someone else is on a plane & experiences awful turbulence & they are terrified every time they have to take a flight moving forward – can you measure who is “suffering” more?
Let’s get more personal & direct: one family loses a child to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) & another to overdose. Can we & should we even compare who is suffering more?
Let’s finally take it to disorder (related to the last post): Is my PTSD able to be measured as more/less extreme as someone’s Bipolar they are facing? I just don’t understand the need for comparisons & deciding who has it worse. That’s a product of victim mentality, & is one of the main pieces that continues to keep us separated in this space. Instead of comparing…what if we comforted, validated & even encouraged everyone, regardless of what they were/are going through? Would be a way more beautiful world.
