Mental Illness Awareness Week

Nearly 50 million adults in the United States are living with a mental health condition. 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year. Here in Washington state, 1.2 million adults have a mental health condition (that’s more than 5x the population of Tacoma). Mental illness affects everyone directly and indirectly through family, friends, or coworkers. That’s why each year, the first week of October is recognized as Mental Illness Awareness Week. This is an opportunity and a reminder that we need to raise awareness, fight discrimination, and provide support for those looking for help. 

This year the National Alliance on Mental Illness campaign is “Together We Share.” It focuses on the resources they offer and the importance of community support. 

In honor of this campaign, we want to share a story with you:

In a small village surrounded by mountains, there was a little girl. She would run around, letting the sun kiss her skin and the wind run his fingers through her hair. She was free and careless, with very little worries in the world. In her village, everyone was happy, nobody complained, and they all did their work and continued with their lives. But a terrible thing happened as she got older. 

Even with such a happy and positive environment, the little girl became scared of her own shadow. She was tormented by her own mind, which was constantly filling her head with deception, scaring her to the point of breaking.

She learned to pretend that everything was fine and bottled up all her emotions until one day after years of pain, loneliness, and complete negligence with herself she just broke. The little pieces were so tiny that was impossible to put her back together.

Her family hid her broken pieces. They tried talking sense to her while they pieced her together one by one but there were millions of pieces and they refused to stay together for long. Nothing was working, and one day it got too heavy for them. They started to show how sad they really were. There was no way to hide the pain. The village thought the girl and her family would turn their sunny, blue skies gray. So, they wanted them out.

In disbelief and carrying immense pain, the family gathered their belongings. But before they left, something strange happened. Standing at their front door, was their daughter, completely put back together. In shock, they asked how this could be. 

The girl said she could hear voices. Sometimes a little kid, an old maid, a father, a mother, even some pets. One by one they started to appear, and with patience, they started to talk with her, and she got the strength to piece herself together. When she was a bit stronger, she started to wander around and saw the suffering that everyone was hiding. She realized she wasn’t alone. All these happy faces were not real, and all needed a bit of help. 

When some people saw the blue sky turn gray, they were not scared. They saw their own reflection in the family. Turns out that there were so many broken souls in this happy village.

They were not happy; they were just holding a mask. All this time she was trying to put on a mask. Everyone saw her as a painful reminder of how broken they were. However, there were some who looked at her with empathy and compassion. Those were the ones that spoke to the girl, that let her know they believed in her. That even when they could not piece her together, they felt for her. 

And even though she was broken into a million pieces, she still had magic in her. She realized that she was not alone and that changed her perspective on how life can be. She saw the pain in different families, friends, and everyone. 

It’s easy to relate to this small village. It feels like the world can be less than accepting of our personal struggles. It’s a reminder that people are fighting silent battles we may never know anything about. That hiding the pain just enables the pain to continue. Sharing your emotions can be liberating. It’s ok to take down the mask.