Hey if you’re schizophrenic/psychotic I just want you to know that you’re a wonderful person and that you deserve so much better than the demonization, marginalization and stigmatization you face in this society.
Please consider reblogging this/other positivity posts for schizophrenic/psychotic people every once in a while. If you have more than 100 followers, odds are that a couple of them experiences psychosis and that they rarely see positivity posts for people with their symptoms.
a while back someone reblogged one of my poems on tumblr with the tag “no one deserves to be atlas”
and it hit me pretty hard and i want to talk about that today
listen, you are not a life support machine, you are not to be expected to carry someone’s organs. it is easy to fall into the rhythm of building your life around people who hope they are already dying, but that is not healthy.
i know. i am no stranger to people like this. i have known people who swallow pills with a snakejaw, who drink vodka straight without flinching and pray quietly that it’ll kill them, who smoke on their roof at 2am while crying. people who starve themselves until they can barely stand, who burn or cut or bruise their bodies because no one taught them to forgive themselves and be soft with their own skins. i have been these people.
there is only so much help you can give. if you learn anything, learn how to tell them: i am sorry, i cannot do this today. i am aching from holding the weight of your sky, please talk to a professional.
i see a mentality a lot amongst middle and high schoolers. i see it in college kids too, in some of my closest friends and in the drug dealer i talk to on weeknights. and the mentality says “if you are not willing to drop everything for me, you are toxic and a bad friend”
i understand that mental illness does a good job of making you feel isolated and it makes you scared of losing people, but realize that your support systems hurt too, and in ways that you might not even know.
listen, no teenager should have to add “keep my friends alive” to their to do list.
it can be hard to exist sometimes and it is okay to need help but you cannot place your fate in someone else’s hands. they shake just as much as yours, they are not any safer.
if you love your friends do not make them be atlas. they are not titans. they are small and afraid too.
Here’s to the teens who got their hearts broken early and went through that mess of falling apart on their bedroom floors to the sound of their favorite sad songs.
Here’s to the kids who were bullied to the point of near breaking and wished beyond imagine that for once someone would just stop to say something nice in the hallway.
Here’s to the teens who had to get jobs as soon as it was legal just to eat a decent meal and afford someplace to live.
Here’s to the girls and guys who’ve been harassed and touched and forced into things they’ll never truly get over.
Here’s to the kids and teens who have barely made it through the education system even though they worked as hard as they could.
Here’s to the girls who have to brush off harassment because “boys will be boys” and “they shouldn’t have been wearing such revealing clothes”.
Here’s to the people who’ve had to hide in the closet because they know this world is quick to judge and slow to accept even if it’s only love.
Here’s to the people who’ve argued with who they are and have tried to be someone else because they’re scared to be themselves.
Here’s to the parents who have had to stand outside their kids’ bedroom doors listening to them sob and not knowing quite what to say.
Here’s to the people who’ve tried to drink and smoke away memories of people who never cared enough.
Here’s to the outcasts who’ve never known what it’s like to feel like they belong and have kept their distance all their lives just to make other people feel comfortable.
Here’s to the people who smile even when they want to cry and say they’re fine when they’re not even close.
Here’s to the people who have to socialize every day even though their lives are controlled by irrational anxiety.
Here’s to the people who’ve hurt themselves or attempted suicide because sometimes life just makes the struggle that unbearable.
Here’s to the people who have lost someone who made their world go round and had to sit through a funeral when they really just felt like screaming.
Here’s to the boys who feel like they have to be tough and strong and masculine so they don’t ever cry in front of people.
Here’s to the people who never felt right in their bodies and were relieved when they realized they could do something about it.
Here’s to the people who have sat in therapy sessions feeling broken and worthless and frustrated.
Here’s to the people who have looked in the mirror and hated what they’ve seen.
Here’s to the people who have struggled to eat or struggled to control their eating only to get made fun of for being too skinny or too fat.
Here’s to the kids who never knew real family for whatever reason and wish they knew what that kind of love was like.
Here’s to the kids who have to celebrate their abusive parents once or twice a year just because they “gave you life”.
Here’s to the kids who grew up having to raise their siblings because their parents never did anything.
Here’s to the people who made mistakes in their life that rip them apart every day and define the rest of their lives.
Here’s to the people who face stereotypes and slurs and prejudice every single day just because of their skin color or gender.
Here’s to the people who think they aren’t valid or loved and still have to find their place in this world.
Here’s to anyone who needed this. I’m proud of you.
ALWAYS REBLOG WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS PLEASE; ITS SO MUCH MORE THAN IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE. IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO SOMEBODY AND EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT SEE THIS IN THE SAME LIGHT, SOMEONE MIGHT. INFACT YOU REBLOGGING THIS COULD STOP SOMEONE TAKING THEIR LIFE TONIGHT.
Seriously thank you.
Please reblog. I love every single one of you. You’re not alone.
This is getting on my fucking nerves, so I’m just going to say it here:
Adults who need high levels of support in daily living are not children.
“Mental age” is a concept rooted in eugenics, and it doesn’t actually exist.
No one should be robbed of agency or dignity because of their need for support.
Oh, also, while we’re at it (since disability rights activism that doesn’t tackle age-related oppression is bullshit), kids deserve to be treated with respect too. Shouldn’t be a controversial statement, but it is.
Most people neglect to mention this, but if “being treated like a child” equates to “being robbed of agency and dignity,” there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way we treat children.
Friendly reminder that Vincent van Gogh willingly checked himself into an asylum so that he could get better, resulting in him creating some of the most iconic paintings of his entire career, done in the asylum, when he was being treated 24/7, because he finally didn’t have to struggle with his demons and could instead focus on his muse, WHICH WERE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!
Remember this little insignificant painting?
How about this one?
Check this one out:
All of these and more were painted in the asylum when he was receiving treatment for his mental illnesses and I know I just said that but I said it again and I’m saying it a third time until you dramatic abled assholes understand!
VINCENT VAN GOGH
– KNEW THAT HE WAS MENTALLY ILL
– WANTED TO CHANGE THAT
– WENT TO AN ASYLUM
– GOT THE HELP HE NEEDED
– PAINTED SOME ICONIC MASTERPIECES AS A RESULT!
SO DON’T YOU DARE COME OUT HERE WITH THIS, “I WISH I WAS DEPRESSED SO I COULD BE AS CREATIVE AS VAN GOGH” BULLSHIT BECAUSE EVEN HE KNEW THAT HIS DEMONS WERE HARMING HIS WORK, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HIS HEALTH, AND HE DID EVERYTHING WITHIN HIS POWER TO FIGHT THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY OF HIS LIFE, UNTIL THEY ENDED UP WINNING!
This is also incredibly important for any creative persons dealing with mental illness, and their parents.
Receiving mental help improves your craft, not hurt it. Before getting put on medication for the first time to treat my mental illnesses, my mom expressed to me how she’s worried about my getting treatment because of my art. Regardless, your mental health should be more important anyway, but, honestly, it’s a lot harder to produce good art when you struggle getting out of bed, let alone creating masterpieces. When you’re in more health, improving your craft comes much easier!
Personally I think the most beautifull painting of him was this one:
He made it when he heard about the birth of his nephew who was named after him. Still in the asylum but really happy for his brother!
“How glad I was when the news came… I should have greatly preferred
him to call the boy after Father, of whom I have been thinking so much
these days, instead of after me; but seeing it has now been done, I
started right away to make a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom,
big branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky.”
Oh I have sucb rants about how “good” art comes while suffering.
No.
look at me.
The idea of the “suffering artist” comes from bunch of alcholic, drug abusing, womanizers trying to justify their bad life choices as some sort of artistic angst.
IT IS 100% BULLSHIT
Take your meds, get your therapy, be happy, and live life
The art will be there.
it’s true that i wrote a higher volume of words when i was untreated. that’s because i was using writing to avoid my life. i spend more time these days on self-care. but the words i do write are of much higher quality, and my craft in plotting and organizing, collaboration and research, has gone through the roof.
i used to just put my head down for 16 hours and pound out ten thousand words from a pit of misery, and shove them in a file named with a keymash to collect dust. now i spend 4 hours on research and planning, an hour talking to my collab partner, and an hour writing a thousand words that are structural and focused and advance the project, then go have a nice bath and text my friends pictures of my cat. my work day’s less than half as long and infinitely more productive.
(and in case you’re imagining those 10k misery files were some kind of De Profundis, no, they were mostly porn.)
i am a MUCH better writer now that i’m on meds that work and have had some years of good counselling.
you won’t lose your creativity if you get help, darlings. that’s YOU. it’s not the disease. it’s yours. you’re the artist. what makes you better isn’t suffering, it’s practice, and you’ll practice more and easier when you’re happier.
This whole idea that suffering is what makes the art is baffling to me. I do MUCH LESS work, let alone quality work, when I’m hitting a low point. It’s like creating anything is a struggle. When I’m doing well is when I can freely write and paint and craft, and the quality of work is present.
Hello everybody! I was just thinking about how I always recommend people who can’t get therapy to use workbooks, so I thought I’d make a quick list of some you could look at. I’m not comfortable recommending books for things I have not struggled with (like, if I was looking at the description of a book on OCD I’d have no idea if it was good or not) but I think I’ve covered a lot. Some of these are series which have workbooks for specific disorders like bipolar, etc., if you want to find some. Plus, you don’t have to be diagnosed with something to use a workbook if you think it’ll help you.
Workbooks are sometimes made to be done in conjunction with therapy, or something like that, but anyone can still get something out of them if you put in regular work and try to apply the skills.
I’ve linked them all the Amazon because they’re usually cheaper on there.
For reference: DBT = dialectical behaviour therapy, CBT = cognitive behavioural therapy, ACT = acceptance and commitment therapy
Holding the Bowl 