Use Your Words

I am committed to writing once a week but this week I had a surge of thoughts that fueled the need for my creativity in the blog-world. 

I've been thinking a lot about words and how we use them for our benefit and our detriment.  (Funny enough, I'm a writer so this is a good thing.)

Often times, I hear people say "I'll worry about that later" in a casual way referring to a certain act or duty that they can focus on later.  But when you think about it, the word that stands out to me is, well, worry.  Are you truly going to "worry" about that later? Are you planning to have a major anxiety attack when such and such occurs where you have to finish that task?

That's what I'm saying.  The meaning behind worry is that of anxiousness, fretting, despair. We use it in such a casual way without thought.  But I think words have power in our psyche and those around us.  How about changing that sentence to, "I'll focus on that later".  Try it.  I have and I have found definitely more peace of mind in my daily activities.

Which brings me to another more important usage of wordings, one that is far more prevalent to my way of being personally and closely attached to a cause I feel strongly about.  I have been open about my mental health condition, that of Bipolar 2 and the journey therein.  This year I have once again joined forces with my local NAMI chapter, (NAMI-SO), and am an IOOV (In Our Own Voice) presenter, traveling from location to location sharing about my journey through recovery and that of finding myself.

Chances are, you have read or heard me express this statement, "I have Bipolar Type 2".  This is significant in that I do not say "I am Bipolar".  One wouldn't say "I am cancer" or "I am diabetes".  An individual is not their diagnosis, mental or physical.  My identity lies in who I am and how I choose to define myself.  My mental health condition is just one facet of who I am, not the whole picture.

The other key factor I'd like to express in the usage of words is the prevalence in our society today to blatantly misuse the diagnoses of mental health conditions as adjectives.  We hear frequently, "I'm being so OCD" or "She is so bipolar", or "its very schizophrenic of me".  Its hard to express how very wrong this is to someone without a mental health diagnosis of any variety.  How insulting and belittling it can be.  But, I will try.

Once again, we do not use the words of physical illnesses in this way. And, yes, I know that physical illnesses do not generally attempt to describe characteristics as mental illnesses do, but the same rules apply as above.  For reasons due to stigma, fear, and ignorance, society has separated mental illnesses from other illnesses entirely, even to go so far as to not consider it an actual illness.

Society has come so far.  Usages of words that were casually tossed around in my youth and before, such as comments based on sexual orientation, race, have been given the red mark of approval and a person who uses those in a flippant fashion is marked as bigot.  But, the wordings around mental illness remains very much alive.  Its the last frontier in finding true equality in my mind.

Here's my challenge: when you find yourself about to use a mental health condition, such as the ones listed above or others, stop yourself and think: Can I really imagine what it is like to be a person suffering with such a disorder? Would I want to hear my diagnosis passed around with such disregard if I were a person with such condition? and more so, What if there is someone in my surroundings that has this condition or another who is afraid to come out about it and this would lessen their recovery journey even more?

Questions to ponder.  I hope this blog gives you pause to think and that you begin to, in fact, use your words.