I'm surrounded by crazy people. Don't laugh because there is a very real chance that you are too. I mean, today is the 5th anniversary of Sept. 11. In the aftermath of all that, how could any of us escape without a little craziness. You know, lately I've been paying a lot of attention to everything. Myself, the people around me. Even strangers who pour their hearts and souls out on the internet and I am struck with the common chords of mental disarray that we all seem to bear at some point. I mean we are a nation of people whose very way of living is probably directly correlated to an overall defecit in mental well being. Look at us. Folks are completely losing their damn minds. We are stressed almost to our breaking points with the demands of just surviving on a day to day basis. Throw in the uncertainties of a world rife with war, terrorism, insane attacks on beautiful, clear September days, mix it all up and voila! a nation of folks with mental issues. Don't get in an uproar, I'm not saying that we need to be locked away in a loony bin somewhere, but I am amazed at how so many of us walk around suffering so without doing anything about it We put so much emphasis on our well being when it comes to staying in shape, eating the right foods, learning the right things, but what do we do for our mental health? Ask someone what they do to just focus on taking care of themselves mentally, and they might mention a vacation, or the spa. Don't get me wrong, I think these are very important and necessary to maintain good mental health, but what do we do to repair it in the first place? So many people that I know are going through some very very seious things and I don't know what they do to surpass merely coping with their situations. I was talking to a friend the other day about some relationship issues and she mentioned that I need therapy. Of course I didn't think that was true but the more that I think about it, the more that I think of what I have been through, what I have endured in my life..how could i NOT need therapy? I see friends going through divorces who can't shake the bitterness and resentment? Why not therapy? I know that at least in the African American community, there is a stigma surrounding that whole idea of therapy. I think a lot of it stems from this innate belief that we need to keep folks out of our business. " Don't have our business in the streets". So you learn to keep it inside, packing every little painful experience on top of one another. The fear of watching your mom and dad fight, the feelings of inadequacy you felt when you were teased at school, feeling powerless...all those feelings got supressed. You learned to smile and fake your way through it so but nine times out of ten, years later, you acted out on all those hurts causing even MORE problems for yourself. Sometimes, and I was guilty of this, you're not even aware you're acting out in the first place until someone points it out to you. WHY NOT THERAPY?. I mean its got to be okay. Taking care of ourselves mentally is just as important as taking care of ourselves physically. I know that a lot of folks were raised on just "taking it to the Lord in prayer" and I am a firm believer in that as well. But I think thats step one of the process. I think God provides outlets for us to take care of a lot of our own issues, and what we need to pray for is the ability to see the doors he's opened, the ability to walk on the paths that he's set before us and the strength to stick with it. God, it seems, is a little more in tune with us than most give him credit for. Imagine that. To me, there is God in not having to stay broken. To me there is no conflict of interest. People please. Do me a favor. If you think you have some nasty disease, please don't bring your infected self around me and mine. Take your azz to the doctor and get some antibitics why dontcha. Same difference :if you think you have crazy, please take your crazy azz to whatever kind of therapy you need: a doctor, yoga,a blog, hell whatever it takes to allow you to release those demons. We need to deal with this and we need to stop ignoring just how messed up we are.Its not cute. Crazy should have no place in our lives. (Atleast not THAT kind of crazy) Collectively, lets Confront our messes and get to cleaning it up. I have enough cleaning to keep myself busy for a long, long time. How about you?
i think u're crazy...
I'm surrounded by crazy people. Don't laugh because there is a very real chance that you are too. I mean, today is the 5th anniversary of Sept. 11. In the aftermath of all that, how could any of us escape without a little craziness. You know, lately I've been paying a lot of attention to everything. Myself, the people around me. Even strangers who pour their hearts and souls out on the internet and I am struck with the common chords of mental disarray that we all seem to bear at some point. I mean we are a nation of people whose very way of living is probably directly correlated to an overall defecit in mental well being. Look at us. Folks are completely losing their damn minds. We are stressed almost to our breaking points with the demands of just surviving on a day to day basis. Throw in the uncertainties of a world rife with war, terrorism, insane attacks on beautiful, clear September days, mix it all up and voila! a nation of folks with mental issues. Don't get in an uproar, I'm not saying that we need to be locked away in a loony bin somewhere, but I am amazed at how so many of us walk around suffering so without doing anything about it We put so much emphasis on our well being when it comes to staying in shape, eating the right foods, learning the right things, but what do we do for our mental health? Ask someone what they do to just focus on taking care of themselves mentally, and they might mention a vacation, or the spa. Don't get me wrong, I think these are very important and necessary to maintain good mental health, but what do we do to repair it in the first place? So many people that I know are going through some very very seious things and I don't know what they do to surpass merely coping with their situations. I was talking to a friend the other day about some relationship issues and she mentioned that I need therapy. Of course I didn't think that was true but the more that I think about it, the more that I think of what I have been through, what I have endured in my life..how could i NOT need therapy? I see friends going through divorces who can't shake the bitterness and resentment? Why not therapy? I know that at least in the African American community, there is a stigma surrounding that whole idea of therapy. I think a lot of it stems from this innate belief that we need to keep folks out of our business. " Don't have our business in the streets". So you learn to keep it inside, packing every little painful experience on top of one another. The fear of watching your mom and dad fight, the feelings of inadequacy you felt when you were teased at school, feeling powerless...all those feelings got supressed. You learned to smile and fake your way through it so but nine times out of ten, years later, you acted out on all those hurts causing even MORE problems for yourself. Sometimes, and I was guilty of this, you're not even aware you're acting out in the first place until someone points it out to you. WHY NOT THERAPY?. I mean its got to be okay. Taking care of ourselves mentally is just as important as taking care of ourselves physically. I know that a lot of folks were raised on just "taking it to the Lord in prayer" and I am a firm believer in that as well. But I think thats step one of the process. I think God provides outlets for us to take care of a lot of our own issues, and what we need to pray for is the ability to see the doors he's opened, the ability to walk on the paths that he's set before us and the strength to stick with it. God, it seems, is a little more in tune with us than most give him credit for. Imagine that. To me, there is God in not having to stay broken. To me there is no conflict of interest. People please. Do me a favor. If you think you have some nasty disease, please don't bring your infected self around me and mine. Take your azz to the doctor and get some antibitics why dontcha. Same difference :if you think you have crazy, please take your crazy azz to whatever kind of therapy you need: a doctor, yoga,a blog, hell whatever it takes to allow you to release those demons. We need to deal with this and we need to stop ignoring just how messed up we are.Its not cute. Crazy should have no place in our lives. (Atleast not THAT kind of crazy) Collectively, lets Confront our messes and get to cleaning it up. I have enough cleaning to keep myself busy for a long, long time. How about you?
