‘Mental Health’, ‘Mental Illness’, ‘Self-care’ are a few of the buzzwords that have prominently circulated within our conversations in recent years; and for good reason too. For many of us, ‘mental health’ is now a part of our daily vocabulary. Reducing the stigma related to mental health issues and encouraging people to seek support when they are exhibiting symptoms.
I talk and write about mental health quite frequently; it is an issue that I feel can never be spoken about enough. I myself have struggled with my mental health for almost a decade now. Throughout the years I have witnessed and experienced the various stigmas surrounding people with mental illness.
One of them being ‘the ugly side of mental illnesses.’
Unfortunately, when I am not well, I do not look as edgy or cool as Skins’ Effy Stonem.
Mental illness should be recognised as any ‘actual’ illness.
It affects my sleeping habits; where I either sleep too much or too little; my eating habits are all over the place; I struggle to do basic tasks, such as getting out of bed and having a shower.
Even though we have come such as long way in reducing the stigmas associated with mental illness, I still feel them greatly in my day-to-day life. Sometimes I wonder: “Is telling my lecturer that I missed the seminar because I couldn’t get out of bed a good enough reason?” “Or how do I tell my friends I am cancelling plans because I have no energy to brush my hair and get changed out of my pyjamas?” “Why can’t I do my laundry, even though I can’t see the floor because it’s covered in dirty clothes?”
To tell you the truth I think I feel embarrassed of what happens to me when I am ill. I fear the judgment of people’s perceptions of my ‘ugly’ realities when I am in this state.
But is it really that gross and ‘ugly’? Or is it just the truth?
The reality is that mental illness can eat away at all aspects of our lives. It may not be ‘pretty’. Or something we want to broadcast to the world. But it’s the truth.