When there is no cure, there is cope

Tweet

When there is no cure, there is coping. You get an illness, the doc gives you meds, you take them feel better and move on. But....for mental illnesses it is not that easy. And I think illness is a misnaming, it makes me think it's something that can be cured, where it's more a chronic illness, more of condition. I like that, condition. It is what it is, you learn to cope. Rather like the loss of a limb, that is never going to grow back, things in our lives can maim our minds, our souls, where we form our thoughts and our emotions. And some of us were born with crooked foundations, so things were always different for us. Perhaps we were born/developed into a person with borderline personality disorder, or bipolar, or dissociated identity disorder, long term depression, or any other number of things. Either we were born that way, or something happened and we developed that way, but no matter how you look at it, it doesn't matter where it started, because certain things have no cures. Does that mean be hopeless? No! This simply means that you are you, and your normal will never be my normal. My normal will never be someone else's normal. We will share parts of the human condition. We can have empathy for each others struggles. But don't feel bad when your normal looks weird when compared to someone else. Don't apologize for being your unique and amazing self! We are all affected by the things that we were born with, and that happened to us when we grew up, and that happened to us later. All of these form the framework of our metal world and the paths we have made in it. One sometimes can alter a path, over time, slowly, but that old path will always be there. We are who and what we have always been, and always will be. Be proud of learning how to cope, what works for you, what doesn't work, and how to function in your world. If this means you have panic attacks and can't drive, so be it. Find another way. If meds help, then take them. If therapy helps, then go! Support others who struggle, you are stronger than you think. Take it from one who knows she is not normal. I have marched to the beat of a drummer no one else could hear for all of my life (or longer, heh), and when another beautiful unique soul apologizes for being 'broken' or 'different't, or 'overly complicated' it makes me sad. (I will note, I say that too sometimes when I am really feeling a burden, or I have messed up or something). Whatever makes you you, is everything, the good and the bad. You wouldn't BE you without it. From the moment you were born, to the second you are reading these words, everything, is your tapestry, and is beautiful the way it is. Yes there are dark colors, sour notes, maybe even a few holes, but if every tapestry looked like it came out of the package, we'd look like we were mass produced, and be very boring and flat. I will say it again, be proud of yourself and keep fighting to be a better you, whatever that means for you. "Normal" when compared to others is both overrated and irrelevant, find your normal and work with that.