Hi!
My name is Jorja!
I am a 24 year old college graduate, I love to write and dance, take naps, go to the movies and bake. I work at a bar, as well as in the childcare field, and I've been working on opening a home daycare center with a friend of mine! I like to doodle and collage, and I stopped drinking almost 3 years ago. I have a few great friends, a spectacular boyfriend, a pretty lovely family, and the most gorgeous goddaughter on the planet!
If you didn't know me and let's say, just met me while purchasing a beer and tipping me $1 at work, you'd assume I was a normal early-20s woman who probably has it really good. I mean, I'm pretty good looking, even with my new boy hair, and I'm always smiling! In the time it takes to tell me there should be a discount on drinks for guys named 'Erik' and that you'll tip me an extra 50cents if I throw in my number..you'd never assume that the smile you 'can't get over' is often the hardest part of my job.
Besides being a pretty poet who's quick with a bottle opener and the world's best babysitter, I am also the one of '1 in 5' Canadians with a mental illness.
Now believe me, I KNOW what 'mental illness' sounds like. In all the years that I felt sick and uncomfortable, I never considered it was a mental illness that was plaguing me. I mean, people with mental illnesses are..well, MENTAL! You picture them running around screaming about aliens trying to communicate with them through the microwave, or rocking back and forth in a corner.
And that's where all of society has gone wrong. We've seen Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Girl Interrupted, but where is there a movie about a girl wakes up every regular morning and has an instant stomach ache knowing she has to go to work and function around drunk people all night? I've never seen a movie about the good looking, popular football captain who got physically ill every morning at 10:00am because his math class starts at 10:10 and he can't understand anything that the teacher talks about.
Due to the way we've been educated in general, you know that the person in the wheelchair has a disability, you know the person wearing sunglasses and walking with a cane and a guide dog has a disability, but you don't have any reason to assume the outwardly normal-looking person next to them, is suffering just as much. Mental illness is number 4 on the top ten list of disabilities in Canada, but unless we all walked around with the word 'NUTS' tattooed to our foreheads, you'd rarely know the difference between the school teacher with a mental illness, and the school teacher without one.
Today marks the end of the official Mental Illness Awareness Week, and I feel obligated to help shed some sort of light on the issue. A full week of intended awareness seems important, but with 51 unaware weeks left over, it's just not good enough for me.
In a year, 5300 people will die from breast cancer in Canada, and that's a huge number so of course breast cancer is something we should be, and have been made VERY aware of on a regular basis. 23200 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in a given year, and their diagnosis effects the lives of thousands of loved ones, and because of those statistics, there is no one out there who hasn't been asked to donate to research funding or at least seen a pink ribbon somewhere.
Do you know what color ribbon represents mental health awareness? I had to Google for the answer 'GREEN', and I HAVE a mental illness! Have you ever had someone come to your door asking for a pledge, for their 'Walk To End Anxiety Attacks'? I haven't, either. And yet, approximately 7MILLION people in Canada are suffering from a mental illness in each year, and that's not counting all the boyfriends and wives and siblings and children who's lives are also touched by a loved one's suffering.
Each year in high school we spent a certain number of weeks taking a sexual education class instead of gym. We were taught about condoms and other forms of birth control, why it might ITCH down there, and about peer pressure. All well and good, but for someone who was secretly suffering with depression instead of being sexually active, not overly useful information.
It was good to have to learn about STIs like HIV because 400 people a year die from HIV in Canada. I remember being blown away by that number, and obviously understanding the importance of abstinence or condoms or regular STI testing once becoming sexually active. However, if the teacher had pointed out that 3692 of people with a mental illness commit suicide or die from self-harming actions each year, and how to detect and treat mental illnesses before it's too late..well, I may not be a 24 year old still living at home because her anxiety got so bad she's scared to leave her daddy.
Mental illness is a real thing, and a serious thing effecting people every day. It effects me, and for FAR more then one week out of the year. Not only am I not ashamed to say that I have a mental illness, I WANT people to know. I want people to know that even smart, pretty girls who have been on the cover of a national magazine can suffer from a mental illness. I want people to know that just because it's, unfortunately, rarely talked about, they are not the only ones suffering, and there are places we can go to for help and support.
My name is Jorja, and I've been diagnosed with depression, and Acute Panic Disorder. I don't enjoy it, I would never say I'm proud of it, but I can't deny it. I CAN however hope for a 'general public' in the near future, where others can openly admit to having, and discuss their own mental illnesses as one would a cancer diagnosis, without out the utter fear of being called 'crazy' or being made to feel guilty or pathetic..for more then 1 week out of each year.
Helpful information about all mental illnesses, for those suffering and those dealing with someone who has a mental illness, you can start here:
www.CMHA.ca
www.mooddisorderscanada.com
www.depressionhurts.ca
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