Ever felt insignificant, like whatever you do will never be good enough? Or maybe that your fears and worries are tying you down?
Mental health is a problem that affects everyone - there is no one alive today who hasn't experienced a mental health issue or doesn't know someone that is going through one. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, in any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental health or addiction problem. If you're the 1, please know that you're not alone and that your disorder is not who you are as a person.
Many people who have had addictions and disorders have done extraordinary things. Einstein had depression, Sigmund Freud had a deadly addiction to cigars, and even Leonardo DiCaprio has OCD.
Let writing and creative sources be an outlet for you, those with and without a mental illness. If you think that your own (in)sanity is or could hold you back then please read on, I hope to convince you otherwise...
Ever heard of Anna Karenina? War and Peace? These are considered Russian masterpieces of literature, and they were written by Leo Tolstoy. This man had battled depression for a fair amount of his life. In 1880, he wrote a novel called A Confession, in which he channeled his inner struggle with mental health and wrote about philosophy and religion. Later in his life, the only shame he felt was not having the courage to commit suicide, not shame for being vexed by depression. The literary world would not have been the same today, if there weren't classics and masterpieces like the ones Tolstoy wrote.
"I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?" this relatable quote comes from Ernest Hemingway. He was a man and he had his monsters. This famous author wrote many books, but had many issues with his health as well. He suffered from depression, bi polar disorder, and displayed borderline narcissistic personality traits. Hemingway developed a dependency towards alcohol, as he often used it as a coping mechanism. Also, another quote from the man was, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed." So, like Tolstoy, he used his disorders to add another dimension to his writing.
Love poetry? Sylvia Plath was pretty good at it. Death was a reoccurring theme in her work. In some, she suggested that death and rebirth are the same to her. She is very well known for her death - suicide by oven. She stuck her head in the oven, after she had made dinner for her children and sent them off to bed in the other room. After years and years of impulsive thoughts, control issues, and dealing with the bi polarity of her mind, and attempted suicides, she took her own life. Like a few other authors, she even spent time in an institution.
I could go on about other authors and their talented pieces, such as Ezra Pound or Virginia Woolf, and continue to talk about how their mental health affected them, and how they poured it into their writing. I could even go on to suggest how different culture, literature, movies, and even society would be different without those brave voices that came before us, but to be honest with you, no one asked to feel broken. No one wants to feel like something about them is not right, no one should have to feel like facing the day is impossible, and no one should feel like that can't be loved because of any trait about them. I wish people didn't have to suffer from their own mind, I wish people were not abused as children, and I wish that no one feels that their mental illness defines who they are as a person.
There have been and are may people that have done wonderfully brilliant things, despite their upbringing, illness, race, and gender.
Needless to say, mental health is terrifying. The pain it can bring is tremendous, and the support some receive can be insignificant. The purpose of this post is not to suggest that mental health calls you to be something greater, but that life does. To anyone out there facing their own battle, please keep fighting.
https://blogs.psychcentral.com/hollywood-therapy/2014/12/7-famous-writers-with-mental-disorders/