“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. The shortest and surest way to live with honor in this world is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.
- Socrates”
The Power of Sharing
Something interesting happens when we allow ourselves, as humans, to be vulnerable and share with others the stories regarding our trials, struggles, and even mental health - we find that we are not alone.
There are varying degrees and many faces of mental illness. This can be misleading in our society as we tend to create ignorant, even incorrect perceptions of what it means to have a mental disorder or illness.
It is estimated that nearly 45 million Americans suffer from some sort of mental ailment. For this reason it is absolutely necessary to facilitate authentic discussions regarding life's dilemmas, especially mental health. Doing so will allow literally millions of people to see each other as what we truly are: human, fallible, even broken at times.
Sharing is healing. It is relieving and can be therapeutic. In our culture it is so easy to get caught up expressing and living up to faulty expectations and perceptions of what should be, whether our own or society's at large. So many people life in unnecessary pain due to our reluctance to let our guard down and truly be genuine.
There is power in highlighting and exploiting strengths and weaknesses in relation to the systems and environments we maneuver through. This gives us the necessary confidence and motivation to overcome labels and perceptions, and focus on resources, abilities, and potential.
Connecting through sharing is an innate desire that we are biologically geared for, beginning atbirth. We can transform our lives and connect with others through the authentic expression of our emotions; the opposite happens when we suppress our emotions - we unnecessarily conform to society’s perception of what “abnormal” means, which holds us back.
Join us in eliminating the shame and stigma that is so often erroneously associated with mental health. By allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and by becoming more authentic through the power of sharing we can change the views and discussions related to mental illness.