It puzzles me when someone says someone else is “mentally ill.” After all, people don’t typically take on a permanent label of “bodily ill.” Illness of the body is just generally considered to be a normal state which you go in and out of, not warranting either accolades or shame.
But mental illness of any kind or duration carries a pervasive stigma, for some reason. It’s binary: you are or you aren’t mentally ill, completely and forever. I would like to propose that this is flawed, however. I would say that we all go in and out of both body and mental illnesses. We have propensities to certain challenges in both the body and the mind, and certain strengths. It’s up to us to make sure that we are strong and flexible in both arenas – and that means continual, difficult, incremental efforts.
To make our mind stronger and more flexible means to overcome our personal challenges and to be ready to take on the mental situations that come our way – just as we must exercise our bodies to be ready to take on physical situations.
With the body that’s done with medication, exercises, and quality food. Likewise with the mind, we can improve with medication, exercises like meditation, and taking in stimuli that helps us grow (books, friends, whatever nourishes.)
Fortunately, yoga just happens to do both at the same time! I love making both my mind and body stronger when I’m on the mat. But our fandoms can help us too, and not just as positive stimuli (although that’s significant too.) Some of our favorite characters in fandom struggle with issues specifically of the mind and could be called “mentally ill.” But as they struggle to overcome their challenges, they are honing their mental strength and flexibility. They are becoming mental yogis, doing and saying amazing things thanks to their mind’s acrobatics. As I have shared in their journeys, my own has been enriched. Here are a few of my favorites, along with their coping strategies and a few quotes that illustrate them.
Thoughts...?!