If there is one thing I've learned in my first nine months in college, it's that judgement absolutely vanishes. In our society, the teenage years of high school definitely swarmed with acceptance and image issues for our young adults. Always wanting to fit in, and go with crowd. But it can be hard when you're different.
Wait a minute. Did you read that how I did?
"But it can be hard when you're," *pause* "different."
This is an example of what a stigma is. The crazy thing about that sentence is that being different isn't a bad thing at all! But when you read it in that context, for some reason it sounds like a negative thing. Why is this?
Well, if you haven't noticed all the young people in their 20's walking around aimlessly for "Pokemon", while staring at their phones, then maybe you're ought to look around a little. Perhaps out your front window because there might be some rare Pokemon in your yard.
Millennials have the honor to be the generation where the smart phone was miraculously born alongside with social media. Heck, the internet was only released in 1990. Only 26 years later and instead of walking into a computer, the size of your living room, young adults are walking into traffic with these mini hand held computers. Since this generation grew up with this technology, they are more often than not, very familiar with social media and how it works.
I can't find it, where it is? Sorry, I'm looking for the point I'm trying to make.
A lot of social media sites have created a new definition to the word "image" that is universally used. They've somehow established what people should and shouldn't look like. Little did they remember about this thing called, "feelings."
They have brainwashed young adults into thinking a big nose, is a bad nose, or thin lips, are bad lips. Just because some of us look different (there's that word again), doesn't mean we look bad or ugly. Different simply means different.
This leads me to my next topic, the stigma with anxiety disorders.
Whoa, here we go again. did you read that how I did?
Why does that word sound so negative? "The stigma with anxiety disorders."
Okay, hold on. Lets recap:
(1) real life: different = different
(2) to some people: different = bad
So with this information, some people think disorders = different.. and since different = bad, that means disorders must = bad?
Well yes, that's some people's logic. As crazy as it seems, that's how a lot of people think. What seems bizarre to me is that mental disorders are a lot more common than you think! Did you know that 1 in 4 Americans will experience some type of mental disorder in their lifetime? That means every four people you pass on the street, one of them has a disorder. Not so different after all, huh?
Something you must understand is that with a disorder comes this irrational shame that society has casted upon the title of "disorder." No one wakes up in the morning, stoked to be diagnosed with a disorder. How come? Because we all want to be huddled in acceptance and admiration from others, we want to go with the flow, and we want to come off as "normal."
The ignorance about anxiety has gone long enough, and I want to spread awareness for what anxiety is really all about. People believe that because anxiety is different, it makes it outlandish or unconventional, but little do they know how common anxiety really is. Having a mental disorder is no different from having a heart disease, or a blood disease. Its no different from having arthritis, or diabetes. But why aren't people who have arthritis looked at like lunatics?
The answer is simple. The stigma. Stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person (Google). Or in people words, stigma is a negative reputation or generalization about something a person may do, have or are. Basically, negative stereotyping. Anxiety disorders are consumed with stigma, but I think its time to make a change. I'm sick of being ashamed I have a disorder that isn't a queer mental matter, but only a chemical imbalance of serotonin in my brain.
The one thing I've learned in the first nine months of college is that judgment absolutely vanishes. Having an anxiety disorder is nothing to be ashamed of, it might make you different, but it also makes you, you (which is the best you that'll ever exist, I might add).
Your anxiety doesn't have you; you have your anxiety.
Take control today. If you or a loved one have been struggling with an anxiety disorder and would like some guidance or just someone to talk to, feel free to email me at: odysseyrachelc@gmail.com :)
