To go directly to the Mental Health Awareness Archive CLICK HERE.
Most of you know I live with and suffer through bipolar disorder. Do you realize 1 in 4 people have a mental illness? 1 in 4! Why in the world is such a common human state of being considered taboo to speak of? Kept secret? Stigmatized? Why are we made to feel isolated, separate from the rest of the world. If one in four humans worldwide have a mental illness shouldn’t we be embraced as simply having a unique characteristic from others like hair or eye color? Why must we walk this planet as outsiders? We do not choose to be outsiders. We learn it from society, community, and even from family. I know the answer to this rhetorical question of course: FEAR!
As some of you know I joined forces with Jade Moore to create the mental health blog, Letters to the Mind, where we invite YOU to write to your mental illness because we feel that not only will you will grow from the exercise, but you will teach by leaving your letters, poems, and stories behind for others to consume, relate to, and learn from. By stepping up and leaving your story you get out from #behindthedisguise and help advance the movement to #EndTheStigma.
#iam1in4, are you?
To learn more about our community blog site check out my post I Pledge to Change the World!.
To support and encourage bloggers, poets, and artists in their walk of life please visit us at Letters to the Mind.
And if you’re ready to write a letter to your illness right now, you can go straight to the contributors page for complete details. Nobody’s story is turned away. We are all inclusive not exclusive!
So Mondays will feature Mental Health posts written by myself and those who have contributed to Letters To The Mind so be sure to stop in every Monday to discover what your friends and neighbors face daily. As you learn more about us the less you will have to fear and that will help the world to become a more understanding and compassionate world to live in! And if you are the 1 in 4 or a caregiver to one, perhaps you won’t feel so isolated anymore!
To view the archival list of posts on mental health awareness please click here.
To see previously published posts on this subject, or to follow only my own personal journey you can click here.
Photo by Naomi August and acquired through Unsplash. © MemeesMusings/B.L. Memee, 2016. All rights reserved.
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