Today I'm going to be talking about something that I know would have affected most of you at some point. Mental illness. More specifically - anxiety disorders.
To anyone suffering with a mental disorder, you are one badass figure because there is nothing more terrifying than battling with your own mind every single day.
Staggering statistics show that in the last 12 months alone, 15.4% of Australians between the ages of 16 and 24 will have experienced at least one anxiety disorder. Did you know that 1.3 million Australians have experienced at least one anxiety disorder in the last 12 months? One out of people young people are, or average, meant to be suffering from an anxiety disorder from the ages of 18 to 24. Only 18% of women, and 11% of men who ever suffer from an anxiety disorder are willing to find help for themselves, or accept the fact that they have a mental illness. These are absolutely mind boggling statistics.
I have had many friends who have openly admitted to suffering from fits of panic and anxiousness, and while it does not affect my perspective of them in many such ways, it confuses me as to why mental disorders are such a taboo topic. With so many people suffering from them on a daily basis, and majority of them being young adults, surely this doesn't have to be such an uncomfortable topic to deal with. Living with a mental illness is already a struggle, living with it in denial would be an unforgiving struggle, but not even being able to talk to someone because of the social stigma that surrounds it would be such a burden.
What really makes me uncomfortable or just plain frustrated is when 'adults' or 'grown ups' tell us that we "haven't even had the life experience to know what kind of emotion depression is," or, "How can you have started to feel this way when you haven't even been faced with the real world yet?". Really? Come on. You spend days criticising our constantly moving lives, and look down on us for utilising technology that is being evolved every day but can't imagine why we might find it hard to keep up. You of all people should be able to draw parallels between our 'lazy generation' and our new lifestyle. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that keeping up with everything is exhausting, and I would say that all these social expectations and new stresses have been put on us by our new lifestyles.
Another thing I would just like to point out - mental disorders are not adjectives and they should never ever be generalised. This is someone's brain, their personality, their mind that you're discussing.
However, our world is evolving, and we have to evolve with it. Anxiety is not a phase, it's not a joke, and it's something that is incredibly hard to live with. I'm so lucky to not be suffering from any kind of chronic anxiety disorder but I have heard so many incidents of them, affecting my personal life. The people I love are everyday getting hurt by this mental illness and, in effect, themselves. We cannot brush this aside, and we cannot blame ourselves. I'm so happy to be a part of the generation I am a part of. We are going to accomplish things we haven't even thought of, and we are going to all live a life worth telling tales about.
I really did get the best of both worlds. I started growing with my wooden trains and my picture books but I grew up with ever advancing technology. This reminds me of a conversation I had with my piano teacher where she told me that by my age, half of her year had fallen pregnant and gotten married. She then went on to describe the abundance of garbage they teach us at school now. I sat and took it, until she told me that I should be living with a man of my own and having children, by this age, at which point I put my foot down. I told her blatantly that they taught us so much at school now, simply because they have so much to teach us. Also that having a quality education is much more important to me than settling down right now. What I said made her reconsider her arguments, before she silently nodded. We are a new era.
Getting off topic (may have to change this title of this post now). Attached below are sites I have found helped when I, myself, have had a minor anxiety attack, which I have occasionally suffered from. Not an anxiety attack, more like a panicky fit:
- http://weavesilk.com/
- http://interactive.usc.edu/projects/cloud/flowing/
- http://whatcolourisit.scn9a.org/
- http://29a.ch/sandbox/2011/neonflames/ (personal favourite - you are able to create your own galaxy)
I also find sleeping calms my nerves so here's a site that allows me to know when I should fall asleep guaranteed to wake up feeling better the next day:
Stay safe, guys. You can get in contact with me through the comments below. If you want to talk about ANYTHING, leave your email down below and I'll get in contact with you.
Much love,
Duchess
No comments:
Post a Comment