Recovery is Possible
I came across a very powerful image the other day, and it has been stuck in my mind ever since. It was an picture of a young woman named Bekah Miles who had an optical illusion tattoo on her thigh. When other people saw it, it showed the words “I’m fine” but from Bekah’s view it read “Save me.” For me, it illustrated perfectly what having a mental illness is like. On the outside people appear to be perfectly fine, but on the inside it is an entirely different story. It’s like placing a coin on a table and only looking at one side of it, thinking that just that one side shows all you need to know and not looking deeper at what is hidden underneath.
Mental illness is serious, but is still largely stigmatized in our society. We care so much for physical health but hardly at all about our mental state and that needs to change.
What people often don’t realise is that having a mental illness is not a choice. People don’t choose to be depressed. It’s an illness, just like having a cough or a cold, except you can’t always see it. That’s the horrible thing about having a mental illness: people can’t usually tell if a person has a problem unless it’s visible.
In this day and age we are so busy caring for friends and schoolwork and hobbies that often we forget to care for the piece that makes us who we are — our minds. If you broke your leg, would you refuse to get it reset and have a cast? No. So people’s refusal, or inability, or fear of getting help when it is their mind that needs fixing is something that I feel needs to change. If you take a look around you, I am certain that you would see people who need help, even if it looks like they don’t. Just because you can’t see something is wrong physically doesn’t mean they are fine. In my opinion, the world needs more people like Bekah. People who can admit they have had problems but have recovered, and use their experiences to help other people who are where they used to be. People who use their stories to challenge the stigma that is associated with mental illness — they show to the world that recovery is possible.
Mental illnesses shouldn’t be swept under the rug and ignored, as this will do more harm than good. The more people know about them, the more they will understand exactly what they are and how they affect people. Some people may argue that ignorance is bliss; in this case, I disagree. Everyone should be encouraged to talk openly about mental illness as, statistically, a large proportion of people will experience it in some form at some point in their life. So for everyone who has ever struggled, the one thing to never lose sight of is this: recovery is always possible.
