Mental Health Awareness Month – And What I’m Doing for It
As I hope you all know, it is Mental Health Awareness Month. May is a particularly hard month for me and my family, anyway. Not only has it been the month when I lost my father, so very long ago, but now it is also the month that I associate with the devastating loss of my old friend last year. It breaks my heart. So, not a great one.
But never the less, we get along with it. At least the sad times are isolated to one month, I guess. Well, it seems apt to me that Mental Health Awareness Month is in May. May just always has been sh*tty. It’s the month that’s not quite summer yet, but you start to feel like the year has gone. You’re almost halfway through it, and for some of us, that scares us. We start reflecting on what we’ve done, or not done, as the case may be.
Then there’s exams, deadlines, coursework and the end of the school year! All very stressful stuff for the younger ones of us. So yeah, it seems apt that we “celebrate” Mental Health Awareness in this month, when so many are vulnerable and suffering. What this month means for me, is a reminder that you’re not the only one who suffers. Yes, knowing this doesn’t change your suffering, but what it gives us is the comfort that it is so normal to be down. So many are chased by the “black dog” of depression, or shaken by the instability of anxiety. YOU’RE NOT WEIRD! YOU’RE NOT WEAK!
This Mental Health Awareness Week 16th-22th, I am hosting a small event. This will be held on the 21st, at a small venue in my area. Of course, I don’t expect it to attract a lot of people. And I don’t expect a lot to happen from it, particularly. What I wanted was for something different to be done. Not many events, that I know of, are hosted by sufferers. The little, scared sufferer. Instead they’re by confident, loud people or big organisations. So, instead I wanted to fill that hole. I wanted to truly show sufferers that they can accomplish things, and that anxiety and depression doesn’t just drag you down. Because I will stand up in front of them and prove it.
Then, when I get there I will make myself vulnerable. I will tell them what I’ve been through, and I’ll speak with my head held high, not leaving out any of the horrid details. The problem with mental illness is that it’s still so taboo. Even though so, so, so many people suffer, for some reason we all hide away and don’t speak about it. We don’t know how to say it. How to show it. And we’re scared to. We don’t want people to look at us as though we are fragile, weak or broken. We don’t want to be treated differently. BUT WE SHOULDN’T BE!! We’re the most normal a person can get! Because life is hard!
What sufferers need is someone to finally prove that it’s OK not to be OK. For someone to help them to realise that they’re normal, instead of someone just telling them that they’ll be fine, and they’ll get over it. We know we’ll get through it, somewhere in the backs of our minds we do know that, but that doesn’t stop how awful and soul-draining it feels right now.
They also need to know that accepting their illness is by far the most important thing for them to do. By running from it, and denying its affects, they are allowing themselves to drown. Lastly, the rest of the world needs to learn about us. How to look after us. How to love us. How to truly understand that we are just people! There’s nothing wrong with us. And lastly, that mental illness has no face. It can look like anything.
MENTAL ILLNESS CAN LOOK LIKE ANYTHING. A SMILE. TEARS. BLACK. WHITE. ASIAN. TALL. STRONG. SMALL. OLD. YOUNG. WHATEVER!!
So that’s what I aim to do, and this event is basically me coming and saying that I’m here, I’m “ill” and I’m starting to make a change. I want people to know that I’m standing up for them, in a time when they can’t.
So if you’re in the UK, Solihull/Birmingham to be specific, please come along to my event. If not, your homework is to change your own ignorance. If you don’t understand it, try to. Ask questions, support someone, ask your teachers, family or friends! And if you have experienced it, or are suffering now, then speak out. Don’t be afraid of the illness otherwise it has more power over you. Trust me, it’s beatable. Trust me, you can grow stronger. Good luck all, and make this month count.
More info on my event here: We Want Change, Break the Chains!
To seek help: My Self-Help Book
~ Damsel
