By Lynn Rae
We are all very quick to put people in a box with a label. Doctors have to do it when making a diagnosis but that doesn’t have to limit us in what we can achieve in our lives.
It doesn’t matter whether your label is diabetic, high blood pressure, depression, PTSD or bipolar disorder, it does not have to define you. You are the only one standing in your way of you. There might be words going around in your head that were drilled into you as a child saying you can never be rich or famous or accomplish great things. You need to absolutely believe in yourself and that if you want something badly enough nothing will stand in your way to achieving it.
Any time we are given a diagnosis, that is just a tool used by health care professionals to accurately describe what is going on in our lives. We need to forget the label and figure out how we can fix whatever is broken within us. Sometimes that means taking medication only but it can also mean seeing some sort of specialist that can help us get on the right track again. It could be a therapist to talk to about our problems. It might mean finding someone who can teach us healthier eating habits to control diabetes or high blood pressure. Personally, I believe the cure for any illness, physical or mental, is 25% medication and 75% working on yourself and your issues. Drug companies want us to believe that we all fit into a tidy little box and need a label which in turn needs to be treated with medication. This is absolutely not true. Talking to someone about our problems as they occur will go a long way towards alleviating whatever is causing us stress in our lives. Stress is the cause of every illness, physical or mental. Most of us wait until the problem has been going on for years before we seek help. In my case, if I had of spoken to a therapist when I was first diagnosed with depression at age 30 the illness would not have progressed to bipolar disorder. It wasn’t until I finally spoke to a therapist at age 36, after 3 major breakdowns, that I realized what changes I needed to make to become healthy again. By then, the illness had reached the point of no return and I will probably need to take medication for the rest of my life.
Some people wear a label like a badge of honour. That is their identity. I don’t identify myself as having bipolar disorder. I identify myself as a woman who had some challenges in her life and found a way to overcome them. When I meet someone new disclosing that I have bipolar disorder is the last thing that I do. I want that person to get to know who I really am as a person before I reveal something so personal.
The next time you are given a label by anyone, ask yourself if you want to be defined by that label. I often here people throw labels around by saying “Oh, he has OCD or she is manic.” This is absolutely wrong. We need to look at the people behind these labels and treat them with love and kindness. Treat others as you would want to be treated.
Wishing you a healthy, happy, joy-filled life!