Privilege

I have been thinking about mental illness wrong, I suppose. I have been thinking of it as a curse. Instead, perhaps we who have been diagnosed are extremely lucky to get the help that we do. I can imagine many people suffer from disorders without receiving proper healthcare. Or sometimes, perhaps, people with undiagnosed and untreated mental conditions turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. I think my mother was a saint for sticking by me over the years and ensuring that I always had proper treatment. But I never really pieced it together. I'm lucky to have the help that I have. It is a privilege to receive proper healthcare and treatment for mental conditions and disorders.

I would be suffering more if I did not have that privilege. I speak to people sometimes who claim a disorder but say they have never gotten the proper diagnosis. I received a diagnosis early and while I have been running from it for a long time, have basically received the healthcare and help that I have needed. A lot of that was due to my family, and my parents, who always supported me.

I will look on those with disorders differently, and appreciate the help that people who do suffer get. I also believe that adhering to medications and doctors is an enormously important strategy, and effectively a responsibility. It's true I don't like the experiences sometimes but, once again, I am lucky to firstly, live in a country where this help is available (to some, if not many), and secondly, to have the medications available to help me. I suppose as we get wiser with age, we appreciate the things that we do have, and our health - more.