Assignment for Decreasing Mental Illness Stigma

This was a college assignment. Thought I'd share it with you.

"I once stated that I wanted to give up, but another person told me, that if I don't try, that the only certainty was that nothing will happen. Try, and if trying means you ask for help, ask for it. If you try, then at least you are allowing yourself the opportunity for something to happen, instead of nothing. Don't give up."

"Someone once told me that most peoples differences are inside of themselves, which just goes to show that you have no idea what is going on in the minds of others. What is easy for one person, might be a struggle for another. We are all different, and approach our lives in different ways. Some of these ways cause hidden pain or anguish. There is no sense in staying in this pain or this unmanageability, if, by asking for help, your life might be improved. So, ask for help. You are worth it."

"Wearing masks is hard work. It's lonely work. It's discouraging work. It's isolating because you cannot share yourself with others. It's suffocating. It's like holding a heavy metal shield up constantly. Your arm will get tired of holding the shield, it will cramp up. Take down your shield, ask for help, your arm will thank you and you just might find that you don't need that shield anymore afterwards."

How true!
Also true.

You always make sure to respond to my posts. Thank you Rohag.

This is so true & how I've been feeling. Today I finally asked for help after being scared & worried about getting it. Gonna see how it goes...

There's much wisdom in every one of these quotes, but I found the above to be particularly profound. The world would be a MUCH different place if everyone had this realization: ...You have no idea what is going on in the minds of others. What is easy for one person, might be a struggle for another.

I see it all the time, even right here on PC. One person will say the equivalent of, "I overcame my depression by doing A, B and C, therefore *everyone* could recover if only they did the same!" It gets really exhausting to encounter this sort of pathological solipsism every freakin' where I go.

I agree with what you just said above. I swear I was feeling like that earlier...it felt like everybody was saying the same thing & I started to feel like I was talking in circles. I was trying to figure out if people understood that everybody reacts & responds differently. Sometimes seeing that or hearing makes me feel alone, but thank you for confirming that someone understands.

I don't know about you, but my circular conversations usually go like this:

Other Person: "I accomplished _________ through hard work/perseverance/deciding I needed to change/etc., therefore, people who can't do what I did are lazy/unmotivated/stupid/etc."

Me: "It's great that you've accomplished _________, but it's not as easy for everyone."

"What?! It wasn't easy at all! Like I said, I had to work hard and etc..."

"I'm sure you have worked very hard, but it's still far more difficult for some people to achieve what you have..."

"Because they aren't working hard enough!"

"....."

Just do what I did and everything will turn out all right. No, no it won't, because I am not you and that person over there is not you and so on. How do people get this way? I just don't understand. It's like there's this serious empathy deficit in society today and no one can be bothered to care. If I wasn't depressed, living in this world would make me that way

Oh my god, someone else who sees the empathy deficit. I thought it was just me!