I try to understand mental illness other than the medical aspect of it. What it means to people, diagnosed and undiagnosed. I want to know what one would see as mental illness. Whether, maybe, the problem isn't the mind of the person or the person themselves but is, instead, that we are thrown into one reality together. That we are all mentally ill in a society that does not or cannot accommodate our minds.
I think that some people who are diagnosed with mental illness or even just seen as mentally ill are just equipped for a different world or reality. That they are not sick but are just not meant for the reality they are living in. I am not trying to imply weakness nor am I trying to imply strength. I am simply trying to assess and process the situations that I see.
Photo by Anthony Tran. Find him on Unsplash
"I Lost My Mind!"
Living with a mind is no easy task in general and one has to work at keeping their mind in a reality as harsh as this one can be (depending on what losing it means to you). I don't believe, or at least haven't experienced, anyone who can fathom the complete mind of an individual even their own.
I do believe and have certainly experienced, the limits and restrictions of reality. How one can misinterpret and not be able to understand and articulate their thoughts and emotions.
I have also experienced how someone can whip their mind into submission because living with one's mind in a contrarious reality could be worse. So they try to forget and bury their mind underneath an adopted one. They find no peace and their buried mind gets drawn out by the guilt and regrets.
They pile up little things they had to do to live and survive. Watching others do things that they have been longing to be doing, watching their own lives pass them by. Sacrifices, pride, and dreams they had to swallow. Every breath they take as difficult and heavy. They all call out to the buried mind and create a person you can barely recognize. Now it feels too late to choose yourself. Now it feels too late to be yourself.
Some say life starts at 40. Some say it's when you lose your mind. Some say that everything had been worthless and pointless. That it is too late to start over. Perhaps, mental illness is just a difference in perspectives. An evolution, a look into a different dimension. Another normal.
What Has Love Got To Do With It?
Love is everything. The right kind of love at the right kind of time is precious and priceless. Truly irreplaceable. Another kind of mental illness some would argue. Another way for people to try and make sense of an empty, worthless life, they would say. A desperate and dead pursuit of purpose. A certain way towards doom.
I believe that love could be anything anyone feels makes them feel and act a certain way. It births many traumas, fetishes, and fantasies. Things that are labeled as disgusting, paedophilic, demeaning, insulting, disgraceful, beautiful, intimate, downright dirty, sexy, releasing, exuberant, light-hearted, quite imaginative, sweaty, and everything else you can feel and think of.
Love gives rise to emotions, speech, expression, and sex. Freedom has even been said to exist in love and who doesn't want to have their own kind of freedom? To feel like the person you have always wanted to be? To be with the person or people you want to be with? Now, I don't know about you but I love sex and freedom so I am already sold on this concept (even though it's mine).
Photo by Tim Mossholder. Find him on Unsplash
Mental illness could and is just as thriving, imaginative, spontaneous, spirited, dark, demeaning, disgusting, and as beautiful as love. It is everything and anything that anyone can be.
What is Love to You?
What is Mental Illness to You?
According to your answers and feelings, would you want to be in love or mentally ill?
Why?
Leave your answers and feelings in the comment section below and leave a like if you experienced any kind of reaction reading my post.
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