Comparable to Cancer
- Kristin Windsor
- Jun 5, 2016
- 2 min read
I am so damn sick of my brain working against me. No matter what I do--beginning my day with nature, focusing on the positive, validating myself throughout the day, focusing on blessings & things I have to look forward to, acknowledging negative thoughts & letting them go (basically all the stuff I've learned through self-reflection & therapy over the years that would normally help a lot)--, my brain finds a way to flip it & work against me, rapidly destroying hope & faith & motivation.
Mental illness is comparable with cancer in the sense of it being hard to understand & the treatments being hit or miss. The battle is difficult--excruciating. It's life threatening. There is no cure; only treatments to reduce the symptoms with the hope of living a somewhat normal, healthy life. It can cause dramatic changes, not only in physical appearance (such as weight loss), but also in "mental appearances"--our personality, how we view ourselves, how we perceive & interact with the world around us, etc. Cancer is an extremely serious & devastating illness; so is mental illness.
The hardest part? It being a lonely journey because, generally, people just don't get it. For example, it's hard to comprehend how different life would be without a limb; how could I possibly know the daily challenges it presents without living it? I've seen artists with no hands paint with their mouth or toes. It absolutely blows me away. In the same way, someone with OCD, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, bipolar, autism, etc. is faced with daily struggles healthy-brained people know absolutely NOTHING about. Mental illness affects our perception of everything--how we view ourselves, experience the world, relate to others, & make sense of things. ALL of it is altered by this thing, this illness, that we don't understand, that we can't explain, & that we usually have no idea how to cope & live with.
Please take a moment today to appreciate your brain & how it functions. Not all of us are that lucky. & always remember, BE KIND; everyone is fighting their own battle, & most of the time we are never even aware of it.
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