What if (the perimeters of) the boxes of the mental health labels like BPD, Bi Polar, Depression, OCD Act as pathologising, disempowering boundaries – boundaries that we are too afraid to assert for ourselves?
Let me explain what I mean…
It’s easier to say “I can’t do that, I have depression”
Instead of “I’m feeling low today and would prefer to not do that right now”
The first, gives power to the medical institution and psychiatrists, over you, and asserts yourself as a mental health patient with some type of disempowering condition that affects your life, and because of that, the listener has to respect that. Not respect you.. but respect the institution, doctors, and their allopathic paperwork/assessment on you as an individual.
Because of that, you cannot do the task.
See the language?
You’re saying you’re physically unable to do the task, because people who have read certain books and been tested on it, have told you, you can’t.
And you’re asking people around you, to respect that, not you.
The second one is instead, asserting boundaries from you, out of a place of knowing yourself, your limits and preferances as a capable individual (quite hard to do for most people….).
It’s saying, you know how you feel today, so you are taking the decision to decline the invitation, because you know what’s best for You; you’re asking the listener to respect that – to respect you, and Your wisdom, on yourself.
The second one is harder to do because of the possible raised eyebrows or stiff upper lip responses;
let’s say it’s a Meal you agreed to go to, with a group of friends…
If you say the second “I’m feeling low today and would prefer to not do that right now”, it’s the personal power in that that might cause unconscious outroar in some people – I can hear them saying “wow, just to think she’s putting her personal preference and what’s good for HER, above the comittment she made to us and said she would be at the meal… what a bitch/loves her self/selfish/stuck up”
That same group, if told the first response “I have depression” will sink into sympathy mode, and have no way they could see it as selfish or rude, because there is the medical institution and white coat people, who have confirmed, she is sick. Who can argue with doctors, right? Aww, bless her. She must be sick.
🔥Take back your power!
You’re not [insert mental illness label]
You are human.
Alive in 2023…
You’re allowed to fluctuate, and we are all responding in neuro-diverse ways to this intense, crumbling of the Roman Empire that’s happening right before our eyes. It’s normal. You’re healthy.
And if your circle seem to respond in a less than kind way when you start to refer to yourself and assert yourself as a capable individual, choosing what’s best for you day by day, then maybe it’s time to consider if they’re really here for your empowerment, or whether your disempowerment serves them in some way. 👀
#mentalhealthawareness #mentalwellbeing #mindbodyhealing #healingjourney
