I have been a subject of stigma for a variety of reasons, not just mental illness. I know that there are so many different stereotypes out there, however, we must do our best to limit how much of that we believe. If possible, we shouldn’t let any of it affect our judgment, so I do my best to break the stigma with people living with mental illnesses by doing a few things, here they are

I live a meaningful life

The first way that I break the stigma with people living with mental illnesses is by living a life that is beautiful. What do I mean? I mean I see what I do every day and I do my best, give one-hundred and ten percent, and always look forward to the next day no matter how hard life hits me. I have things that I need to do every day to take care of myself. I write songs, I play guitar, I sing, (I’m very musical), I write in my blogs, I write in Trillium’s blogs, I give everyday my best because I deserve that much. That is what I mean by living a beautiful life.

I personally remain drug free

It is a stigma that people living with mental illnesses are drug addicts, I do not do drugs and I have never done drugs except for once, I drank, anyways I haven’t drank in 3 years, I do not smoke, I do not do any drugs, I always keep sober.

I workout

Working out to me, is treating myself. I’ll be honest with you, I want to look good, I do not want to be overweight because I feel like that’s a bad way to live. So, I lift weights, I hit cardio like three times a week, I used to do it everyday when my sister was working out with me, but not anymore, I try and eat healthy but it’s just so difficult with the lack of delicious options, I mean who wants to eat rabbit food all day long? No one, that’s who. But I do my effort to try and eat healthy and I’ll be honest when I eat healthy, I actually do not like to eat unhealthy. Eating unhealthy starts to taste bad and I like the taste of salad more when I do eat healthy but my mind snaps to reality at a point and I start to eat unhealthy again. Anyways, on to the next one

I speak out

I have spoken with a few of the members in the community about mental health and their positions and topics such as these, and they are very interested in hearing what I have to say. They understand that mental health problems do occur in people and issues regarding mental health consumers need to be addressed. So, I voice my opinion but I don’t just say whatever is on my mind, I think long and hard about what I want to say because I want to stand out from the crowd, I want to show people that even with mental illnesses, I am intelligent, bright, wise, strong, and my voice does matter.

So all in all, I aim to make people living with mental illnesses more defined in a way, let me explain. If a person thinks about a person living with mental illness, I want the first thing to be thought of is, bright, strong, shine, wise, smart, this person is going places, this person is unstoppable. I aim to create a world where people with mental illnesses are thought of as beautiful. Thank you all for listening in on this blog post, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and I will see you all next time. German Gonzalez, signing out.