Mental Health

When these words are spoken they are always received differently, depending on the impact they have on the person hearing them. For those of you like me who have gone through this experience, we also have a magnitude of different responses. Every one of us has a different story to tell. But let’s first go to those on the outside looking in. There is a stigma attached to those words that was never part of their remit. Association if recognised could taint their very being. They scoot around us with an uneasy feeling as though it were taboo to ask the question. Is this a reasonable reaction? Do they mean to make us feel as if we have the plague? The answer to my mind is a very easy one it’s a firm no. The way the system is run in many ways gives weight to those seemingly measured thoughts. It’s treated as a under the counter transaction, that should not bring it’s baggage along with it. So many things need to change if we are to alter their prospective. Mental Health is an illness, that should be treated much the same as any chronic condition. It’s ok to ask us how we are feeling, when returning to work after time away to heal, we won’t go up in smoke or become an out of control entity. We are still the same person we were before our episode; we need to move on in leaps and bounds to push this message home.
So let’s come back to us and our own insecurities. How do we prepare for that first day back at work? Will we be walking around with a sticker firmly pasted on our forehead, announcing to the world that we nearly made it to the funny farm? How should we respond to the questions that are asked of us from the brave? How many times have we asked others how they are feeling after time away? Would they really want an honest answer? Or is it just a curtsy? Do they want to sit with you for a time and discuss the truth? Should we just put it out there, make a joke about it as if we too can see the funny side. Do we make it quite clear, that there is no discussing the matter in any way shape or form? Do we see someone we know in the far distance and alter our route in avoidance? I myself have experienced each and every one of these scenarios.
If we were to put these two misconceptions together what would we be left with? To my mind for so many years, it became me on one side of the street and them on the other. Today I sit here and announce that those thoughts no longer have any headspace. I have managed to close that divide through the power of healing. So I say to you here and now, please don’t imagine that for you there is just no way back. Simply because if you are strong enough to deal with the episodes consuming you while searching for a way back to the light, then you’re sure as hell strong enough to conquer anything.