Your Mental Illness Doesn’t Make You Weak, It Makes You A Warrior

If you’ve ever suffered from anxiety, depression, heartbreak or just an extremely shitty time – I wrote this for you. 

“It’s only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never be dimmed” 

Do you remember the times when you didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning and most definitely did not want to see the light of day? People said “It’s ok, you’ll be fine” or “It happens to all of us, it’s just a part of life”

You appreciated their concern, but part of you resented it.

How could someone just brush it off like that? It was probably one of the worst things that had ever happened to you and these people who you love and love you back, can brush it off like it’s nothing. – It angered you because no matter how much you tried to express how you were feeling, no one was able to understand.

When something traumatic happens for months or years even, it consumes us.

Why did that happen to me? Why did they do that to me? How could they do that to me?

Whatever the experience may have been – It changed you. 

You become anxious and fearful that it will happen again; so much so, that if you feel anything that’s even remotely linked to that core pain you once felt, you run. You run as fast as you can away from it because it’s not worth the risk.

By doing this we create our own mental roadblock; we self-sabotage with what we feel is our best interest at heart, we’re merely protecting ourselves from circumstances we cannot control.

Without even realizing it, we let people from our past dictate our present and if you chose to listen, you can hear their words as if they were standing directly in front of you.

They will fill your mind with doubt and ultimately cloud your judgment without even being visibly present.

Not everyone understands this, but I do.

Others call us the damaged ones, the broken ones, the ones that need fixing, but I disagree. We may have been shattered into a million pieces but we rebuilt ourselves from nothing and that took a substantial amount of courage and great strength.

I understand why you protect yourself. I see why you are the way you are – It’s better to be cautious and selective than reckless and self-destructive.

We didn’t come this far too just settle for anything less than what we think we deserve. 

We know that this journey has given us something that money can’t buy and even with many experienced teachers, it can’t be taught. – It’s something we’ve had to learn on our own.

We see things differently.

They don’t understand us, because they haven’t experienced what we have – You can’t blame them for that.

They show you no empathy because they haven’t felt what you have – You can’t blame them for that.

They really do not understand and as much as they try to, they can’t comprehend what you are saying – You can’t blame them for that.

Our past has been challenging, complicated and confusing – But we overcame all of that. 

We are warriors – Strong and courageous soldiers who I see as special humans.

We didn’t give up, we kept fighting and today we are stronger than ever and that my friend is extraordinary and should be celebrated.

Appreciate your past the good and the bad, because without it you wouldn’t be the person you are today and when in doubt, just remember that the world can still be a beautiful place, but that part is up to you.