Mental Illness Really Sucks

You wouldn’t believe this, but mental illness sucks.

tiago-bandeira-654484-unsplash.jpg

I spend a lot of days just stuck. I lack motivation or a positive outlook or even the will to shower. People telling me that things will get better do not help. I mean, things will get better for them

And I only have depression.

What I’ve read about bipolar, schizophrenia, and anxiety (to name a few general terms) makes me understand the suckiness of mental illnesses can only go deeper.

And the worst part? Stuff like motivation and will power is nonexistent. It’s been sucked away. That’s the analogy I keep thinking of with all the recent news about black holes in space.

That’s it! -Mental illness is like a black hole.

The Event Horizon Telescope, a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, captured this image of the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 and its shadow.

Image: © EHT Collaboration

So… why am I bothering to write about it? It sounds like we ought to just accept our fate and enter another dimension as re-composed atoms, right? Wrong. I’ll tell you why, and you don’t even have to get up from the floor to listen.

Things actually will get better.

No, that’s not a cheery aphorism. I do not believe in those, because they also suck -but not like the suck of mental illness black holes. Go get your own sucking analogy, aphorisms.

But you don’t really care about that right now if you’re in a spiral.

What you need right now is to calm down. That thing you think you really need to be doing will wait, unless it’s a pot of boiling dinner on the stove. Turn that off, remove it from heat, then calm down. Now that we’ve mitigated a fire hazard, everything can wait. The Earth will keep moving and you can take a little break.

Then you need to do something for you. Something funny.


Watch a funny movie, read a funny book, look at funny memes online, ask your dad for a joke, or search for internet fails. Get laughing, or at least get not-crying. Try a smile -that’s it. I’ll take it.

Make yourself slightly more comfortable.
Use the bathroom, eat something reasonably healthy and brush your teeth. Comb your hair. Shower and get dressed.

Lastly, do SOMETHING.
You just got up and ready, after all. It’s not like your couch is a great date, though sitting on it with a great date or group of friends is fine. Text someone (even your mom) and leave the pit house.

Only after you’ve re-centered your mind, aka escaped the black hole, are you ready to do try facing whatever space anomaly sent you near it.

Speaking of, you may want to clean off your stove. That crap’s hard to get off if it stays on there.

 

Photo Credits:
Tiago Bandeira

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19 thoughts on “Mental Illness Really Sucks

  1. It does suck, and you are so right that sometimes you just have to kick yourself out of the downward spiral by focusing on something, anything, else. Last week I blogged (post: The power of bunnies) about a really bad day I was having, and then, with the help of a friendly phone call and a silly-calming talk about the friend’s backyard critter sightings, I was able to get off the crazy wheel. And yes, turning off the stove is important, too. (Although my stove is still caked with stuff, because I don’t have the energy…)

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    • 🙂 Funny as it sounds, I used my own advice today in helping me calm down. Then I used it on the child who had riled me up. We’re now tried and true!

      I’m so glad this worked with you and your friend as well!!

      …and, yeah, still need to get to my stove…

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      • Oh crikey, that’s confused me!! But I don’t think it matters … whatever works. In CBT we were told that to break the horrible cycle, whilst it was the mood that was needing to be changed, that was the most difficult; therefore we needed to change the physical behaviour ie to be active and get out, and that process would in itself change the mood … I have no idea!! Whatever works for you is the best way. Personally I like to cycle or watch a happy film with chocolate! The latter if it’s cold, raining or just a bit meh! I totally loved your post 💕

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  2. I have schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and I can honestly say my depressive phases are some of the worst. Depression is no joke. Thank you for sharing these tips. I know how important it is to learn to cope with these things. Medication helps but we need healthy lifestyles as well.

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  3. Oh girl! I have come to learn that depression is the true evil in my life. Bipolar, PTSD, Anxiety. Depression overshadows them all in my life. I think it just takes away my will to overcome the rest. Admittedly, bipolar has led to some pretty extreme situations but the depression is easily the worst part for me. I feel strong and able to combat the other feelings, but the depression can be so disabling. I really believe in putting one foot in front of the other. On my depressive days….that are beginning to be more like weeks as of late….I strive to do one thing, put my bra on. Why? because I feel like its the thing I do when people will be seeing me. I put my bra on to go to work, grocery shop. I put it on before I brush my teeth. You are really onto something that may seem so simple, but its the biggest move we can make….moving.

    Thank you.

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