Accept It

Mental illness. The word itself makes you cringe inward, or creates a character wearing a helmet and having trouble speaking form in your mind's eye, doesn't it? Maybe that's just me, I apologize if it's wrong. That's not the point though.

Mental illness is an enormous phrase. It doesn't just represent autism, or Aspergers. It isn't just someone deemed incapable of taking care of themselves. It's also not something that should be ignored, nor something to belittle someone over. If you haven't learned already, turning your head doesn't make things disappear.

Let's take Charlottesville for example. Bigotry, and the way things are taught in school, contributed to the protesters there. They didn't see how the beliefs or the things they did were absolutely wrong. They completely believed that they were in the right, and they think that white people are being oppressed... seriously? Poor people are oppressed, and I am sure that some there mistook the oppression of the poor to be oppression towards whites. We aren't a minority though.

I live and grew up in a tiny "village" in West Virginia. (No. You went to Richmond, Virginia. That's a whole other state.) My high school consisted of around three hundred kids or so, almost every student was white. Now, if you were to live here long enough, you'd see that it has it's own theme. Red necks, country songs, chewing tobacco, and rebel flags.

Growing up, I was raised around almost solely white people. Cowboy boots, oiled up hands, and brown spit seeping from the edge of the mouth was common attire. However, the ideals that came with it were very stereotypical. The "N" word was almost always used to describe any African American, and the belief that they were all thieves and druggies was popular. Even to those with a needle hanging out of their arm.

I grew used to it. I have despised bigotry for as long as I could remember, but I also didn't speak out against it. It was part of the community, and I wasn't about to try to persuade anyone otherwise. That was a mistake. I turned my head in hopes of being accepted, and out of fear. I was a coward. Now, I make it a point to call out bigotry of any kind, and consider myself a feminist.

The point I am trying to make is, what would have happened were I to speak out sooner? Maybe had I called it out in my childhood, there'd be less of it to call out in adulthood. Maybe there even would have been less protesters in Charlottesville, who knows.

Pivoting a blind eye towards anything, be it hate or mental illness, solves absolutely nothing. We have to put an end to this fear of mental illness, and to our own mentality towards it. It needs addressed, it needs solved, it needs accepted.

There is nothing to fear, and nothing to be ashamed of. We should treat our mental well being as we do our physical well being. If you get sick, or break a bone, you go see a doctor. If you chip a tooth, you see a different kind of doctor. If you have suicidal thoughts, go see the right doctor. If you can't find the motivation for even normal day things, go see a doctor. A psychiatrist. That doesn't mean you're crazy, or some kind of monster. It means you're human. We are all human.

No matter what the problem is don't be afraid to see someone, or talk to someone about it. I, myself, suffer from depression. I've been fighting it for six years. However, I haven't self-harmed in two. Seeing a psychiatrist can do wonders. I only wish I had gone sooner. Trust me, things are always going to be hard, but some days can be easier. A psychiatrist can help with that.