People

Today’s Music: Sly and the Family Stone – Everyday People
Note on Today’s Music: When the idea for this post came to me, this song leapt into my head. At least it took it;s shoes off first…

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a month to draw attention to what mental illnesses are and how the people that have them deal with them, what symptoms are, and what can be done to help.
It isn’t hard to do. They’re just people.

I know a woman who has ADHD. And a husband and kids who are all at that age. She has a wicked sense of humor. She is insane, in the non-clinical, best sense of the word.
Every so often, she breaks down and just needs to talk about her struggle with the illness. Much like the rest of us sometimes just need to vent about what’s going on in our lives.

I have a friend who’s bipolar. She gets upset about things. Just like the rest of us. She gets happy about things. Just like the rest of us.
The fact that she has a mental illness doesn’t take away from struggling with the same problems as we all do. It just adds another layer to it.
But she also has a hilarious outlook. Even when she’s swung to the low end, she can say something that will make me laugh out loud, which makes me say something that makes her laugh, and back and forth we’ll go.
The conversations often end with “Thanks”, because both of us find them good conversations. Both of us will say it. It’s the conversation that matters.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
It’s funny, there’s a lot of stigma attached to mental illness. People that have it often try to hide it and avoid it.
The two people above have openly admitted it. They’ve said when they’re going through a reaction to it, invited questions, and explained what it means.
They’ve said that the biggest help in dealing with it is knowing that they don;t have to hide it and that their friends are accepting.

Poke around. If someone you know has Depression, is Bi-Polar, has OCD, even something like an eating disorder, look into it. Find out what it means.
Think about the people that stuck by you when you were having difficulties in your life. Think about how when you’ve revealed something you were deeply ashamed of, those close to you just said “Ok”, and went on being close to you.

We’re all just people. we all have baggage.
Doesn’t make any of us any less worthwhile than anyone else.

So please, take a moment to find something out about Mental Illnesses and the people that have them.
People. Just like you and me.