Just Be Nice

Last week marked Mental Illness Awareness week, October 10th marked World Mental Health Day, and tomorrow marks this year's Canadian Thanksgiving. It serves as a reminder to us to continue conversation and maybe even tell our stories. With the growth of mental illness referenced in the media, its fortunate that the stigma that so strongly surrounded it became a little weaker. Many approach the topic from a humorous angle, through self-deprecating memes and the glorification of apathetic habits. There's many ways to cope, humour is one, avoidance another. Today, there are so many resources available to us and there is no shame in seeking help. This is why awareness of the matter is so important -- many of us don't realize what we are struggling with, these mental struggles are not 'visible.'

Let's talk about that, lets have conversations that don't shame mental illnesses into a dark place, tell our stories and listen to others with soft eyes, free of judgement. We all know that it takes nothing to be kind but I encourage you to slow down your busy lives and look around. Every busy body around you is living a life just as complex as your own and once we can really grasp the vastness of all that we can experience, what we can learn from others holds no bounds. Recognizing our struggles is no more and no less important than recognizing our achievements. "The sadness in you is just as much as the happiness." As Thanksgiving arrives, recalling our journey and what we have accomplished puts all the pieces of us together.

I probably don't know your story but I can listen, we can listen -- and even then I understand that I will never know it at its entirety, like you won't know mine to the extent that fills every part of me. There's a gap, and in that gap is the the part that we've lived, the consumption of feelings and experiences we will never be able to translate. So we acknowledge that this gap exists and we respect that every individual fills the rest of their story in this area that we can't begin to define for them. In other words, simple respect that you don't know somebody better than they know themselves.

Pay attention and hold your loved ones close but also respect the space they may ask for. There is so much beauty in humanity and our capacity to take care of one another -- often times, we forget that we need to direct this love to ourselves. Look at the souls that contributed to building your own and remind them how beautiful they are. Although it matters everyday, it's always warm to see what makes your stoic dad break into a belly laugh, what makes your tired mom shy away with glee, your insecure sister smile with confidence, it takes nothing and gives everything to reinforce the small things that makes their souls glow. Yours too. So, just be fucking nice man, to those you know and love, to those you don't know at all, and to yourself.