The world is awakening to the reality that the way we have been doing things has been harmful to us. In this realization the marginalized are beginning to be affirmed & rehumanized.
I have come to find that the mentally “ill” are not ill. We drink medication to fix chemical imbalances that happen every day to everyone.
Anyone and everyone could and is mentally “ill” to an extent, because we all have a baggage we are carrying. Those who are unpacking that baggage are marginalized and called ill. Our anger is seen not as a human reaction but as a by-product of our condition- always.
Emotional labour is difficult. I have found mental “illness” to be a state of mental journey.
We learn first about ourselves through this journey by listening to ourselves. We listen to ourselves by switching off the distractions & being still- letting your mind wonder.
The distractions for me were social media, TV, alcohol, comfort food etc.
Listening to yourself means spending a lot of time with yourself. We each have 24 hours in a day of those 24 hours how much do you spend with & by yourself.
It’s hard at first to listen, but as it is practised it improves and comes naturally.
Once this is done – it never gets undone, you learn truths about yourself. What you accept what you don’t accept, how you speak to yourself and how you won’t accept being spoken to. You become more clear about who you are.
Owing to coexisting in a world with people who have no clue where you are in your process you teach them how to treat you through setting boundaries.
A boundary can be something as small as, “hey friends, could you show me support in this journey by no longer referring to me as ‘hi bitch’ even endearingly because I don’t experience it as endearing.”
Marginalization is like a script. Those who are outside of the marginalized group are always violent to those on the peripheral.
To those struggling to breathe even in their homes because of the ignorance around mental ‘illness’- take heart in knowing that we are writing ourselves into history so we too can feel the breeze.
Even when there is no one around you, you are with you and it’ll come alright.
