Hey guys! Whilst writing this, I'm contemplating whether I'll actually grow some balls and post this or if it'll just stay in my drafts. This is a topic very close to me because I myself have experiences with mental illness. I hope you find this post interesting- thought provoking even. I came up with the idea for the post while talking to my best friend and have been determined to do it ever since as I feel like not many bloggers/YouTubers/celebrities use their platforms and audience enough to spread awareness of issues going on. As much as I love my beauty and fashion posts, I also want to help people and to speak about some of the things going on in the world that I think aren't right. You may want to make yourself a cup or tea or coffee as I feel like this post might be a long one...
G x
G x
In recent years, I'm sure you'll have seen that mental illness has been discussed a lot more and more people are being made aware of it than ever before and personally, I think YouTubers and bloggers have had a big role to play in that- especially when they talk to an impressionable young audience. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, I think it's amazing that more people are being made aware of mental illness because it can crush the stigma surrounding them as well as making people more able to see the signs, so they can help people around them who may have a mental illness. It's great that people are sharing their experiences and making it more known- but these people get so much hate for it! There's a huge issue with people glamorizing and romanticizing mental illness on social media - especially on the main culprit, Tumblr.
Messages like this can be found all over social networks, people saying self harm is 'beautiful', encouraging anorexia like the image above, making depression seem 'deep' and somewhat 'sexy', even. When messages and photos like these are going all round social media, it really does make it hard for people (including me) to open up to the fact that you have a mental illness because guess what... mental illness isn't 'fun', it's not a 'sexy' or 'deep' frame of mind, it's not 'cute', it doesn't make us feel or seem 'special', we don't say we have something to be 'Tumblr', we're not saying we have anxiety just because we're copying Zoella or other famous Youtubers/bloggers etc... and most of us are most certainly not doing it 'for attention' (this is probably by far the worst stigma going on with mental illnesses, in my opinion).
There are so many misconceptions about mental illnesses and again, it's another reason why people who have mental illnesses and who attempt to talk about it to try and help someone get pounced on. So what if someone smiles and laughs in front of you? Maybe behind your back and everyone's eyes, they're crying themselves to sleep and have scars over their body. If you're shy, that doesn't mean you instantly have social anxiety. If you're nervous before an exam, that doesn't mean you have generalized anxiety. I'm no doctor here, don't get me wrong, but I feel like people these days are very quick to diagnose themselves without truly looking at the symptoms and other's experiences and going to a doctor themselves. It's quite sad that some people can see mental illnesses as 'cool' or 'quirky' or even 'desirable', and trust me... I've seen people do this more than enough times.
Depression isn't a girl with a messy bun and oversized sweater having a bad day, depression makes you feel hopeless, depression makes you drift away from those who you were one close to, it's losing your appetite, it's having thoughts in your head that nobody should have, it's not being able to sleep properly because depression consumes you, it's a consuming and draining cycle that keeps repeating itself again. Suicidal people shouldn't be called "angels waiting to come home", they're people who desperately need help. Low self esteem and self-hatred isn't in the slightest bit 'poetic' and mental illnesses aren't cured as easily as your boyfriend or girlfriend kissing you. I'm not going to sit here and pretend this post will suddenly crush the stigma surrounding this topic, but mental illnesses shouldn't be thought of lightly, and I'm sick of scrolling through Tumblr to find posts like these...
There are so many misconceptions about mental illnesses and again, it's another reason why people who have mental illnesses and who attempt to talk about it to try and help someone get pounced on. So what if someone smiles and laughs in front of you? Maybe behind your back and everyone's eyes, they're crying themselves to sleep and have scars over their body. If you're shy, that doesn't mean you instantly have social anxiety. If you're nervous before an exam, that doesn't mean you have generalized anxiety. I'm no doctor here, don't get me wrong, but I feel like people these days are very quick to diagnose themselves without truly looking at the symptoms and other's experiences and going to a doctor themselves. It's quite sad that some people can see mental illnesses as 'cool' or 'quirky' or even 'desirable', and trust me... I've seen people do this more than enough times.
Depression isn't a girl with a messy bun and oversized sweater having a bad day, depression makes you feel hopeless, depression makes you drift away from those who you were one close to, it's losing your appetite, it's having thoughts in your head that nobody should have, it's not being able to sleep properly because depression consumes you, it's a consuming and draining cycle that keeps repeating itself again. Suicidal people shouldn't be called "angels waiting to come home", they're people who desperately need help. Low self esteem and self-hatred isn't in the slightest bit 'poetic' and mental illnesses aren't cured as easily as your boyfriend or girlfriend kissing you. I'm not going to sit here and pretend this post will suddenly crush the stigma surrounding this topic, but mental illnesses shouldn't be thought of lightly, and I'm sick of scrolling through Tumblr to find posts like these...
I'm going to end the post (and little rant, if you like) here, if you think you have a mental illness- please go to a doctor and get it checked out. If you need to talk to someone, I'm obviously here and you can contact me privately through Instagram (@gabijabarkute) or email me at [email protected]
If you'd prefer to talk to somebody else here are just a few that I know about (you can look on the websites by clicking on the names), I'm sure there are others out there and there's nothing stopping you from talking to a GP, a parent/guardian, even a friend!
If you'd prefer to talk to somebody else here are just a few that I know about (you can look on the websites by clicking on the names), I'm sure there are others out there and there's nothing stopping you from talking to a GP, a parent/guardian, even a friend!