In celebration of World Mental Health Day, I'm going to reveal what exactly is wrong with everyone.
Nothing.
That's right, nothing. Being depressed, lonely anxious etc. (especially these days) is perfectly normal in a fucked up civilization that is about as natural and comforting as astroturf.
"But, but I double check the locks on my doors all the time. I have a habit of clicking my tongue at every little thing. I've been unemployed and isolated for months. I feel sad looking in the mirror." I hear you say.
We have OCD, ADD, ASD, and OMG, we have become a society of mental hypochondriacs.
Mental health is big business baby and in order to continue the profits we have to feel . . . permanently damaged. Notice how, unlike a broken arm or a urinary infection no one is ever cured of a mental health issue?
Our behavior has to be treated as something to be fixed with drugs, therapy, hypnosis, electroshock. We have enough internalized baggage to bring down an airplane that will require years of cognitive therapy-on a weekly basis. We must heal childhood trauma by zapping our brains with enough electricity to light up a city block. We need to dull our depression and pain with enough psychotropic or opioid drugs to knock out an elephant.
I got good news for you.
There's nothing wrong with you. We are all a weird, quirky mass of insecurities. Accept it. People shell out money to talk to some therapist trained in half baked concepts dreamed up by other misguided psychologists still wrestling with their own addictions, messy divorces or guilt trips. We are obsessed with our behavior as if it's abhorrent. Is your habit dangerous or just a pain in the ass? Right.
Remember the 70's when everyone was diagnosed as neurotic? We still are. Given the hyper speed of modern society that would leave a coke head dizzy and the insidious malice of social media grinding self esteem into dust I'm not surprised.
Society demands we function at full speed regardless of our physical or mental condition. Why are you sitting around recuperating from a major operation, a deployment in a hellish battlefield or still grieving the death of a loved one after what- a month? Get back to work you unproductive loser.
And when there is a real problem, we can't discuss it. Being you know- mentally ill- is shameful or taboo in most cultures. Being depressed, sad or anxious is dirty, like porn. If you have a broken arm, people are glad to help out. If you are filled with anxiety, afraid you'll never play the piano again, nobody wants to be around that.
Ok, relax, breathe, find your center.
You're not a machine or a soulless insurance adjuster, you're a decent, normal human being who is allowed time to heal and treat yourself with kindness. We often egotistically feel our predicament is unique. "Nobody understands what I'm going through!" You wail. What? You think you're the only one who has a problem with (fill in the blank)? Get in line.
If we stopped all this theatrical self flagellation and just opened up with someone while having a beer, we would discover how our so called afflictions are actually pretty common.
Mental health is the most important thing to our well being. No one should ever be ashamed to admit they are not perfect anymore than admitting they don't like boy bands. Life can sometimes feel as difficult as removing a jar label or peeling the plastic from a CD. What evil invented that shit? But I digress.
Believe it or not we are all damaged, incomplete and suffering and that's fine.
Native Americans are often perceived as doing nothing, but they are doing something, they are being. Just like the native Australian or the Buddhist monk sitting quietly watching the world go by. Consider this pandemic a chance to pause and do the same with your mental health.
Just be.
1 comment:
Best post ever! I've actually learned to enjoy being a crazy old coot!
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