Disorder?

 “What if it’s not a disorder?” he asked.

A disorder implies that something is wrong,

That something needs to be fixed,

That something is fundamentally bad and flawed.

“What if it’s common humanity?” he suggested.

Common humanity implies a norm,

A unified standard,

A shared experience,

A way of being that does not warrant judgment.

 

After thinking for a few moments and talking things through,

I finally concluded:

“I’m all about common humanity.

Common humanity is why I write my notes each week.

But I don’t want Generalized Anxiety Disorder to be common humanity.

I don’t wish this on anyone.”

 

And I don’t.

 

I don’t wish the unwarranted worry on anyone—

The nagging thoughts of death and dying—

The constant, interfering lookout for what might go wrong.

Joe says that the lookout is part of our biological make-up,

That our ability to anticipate threats and proactively deal with them is

What got us to the top of the food chain.

Yet I look for lions everywhere,

All the time,

Even in good times.

I never know when a lion is lurking,

And so I must stay vigilant.

 

No…

I don’t wish this on anyone.

It’s exhausting.

And yet the reality is:

Tens of thousands of people struggle with deeply rooted anxiety and fear every day.

And what’s worse:

Many of those people struggle alone because of the stigma of mental health disorders.

 

So what if they aren’t “disorders?”

What if that’s the wrong word?

What if nothing is “wrong?”

What if nothing needs to be “fixed?”

What if we, who struggle with anxiety, are not fundamentally “bad” and “flawed?”

What if we do not need to be discounted as worthless

But instead to accept that we are wired differently,

With a true medical condition  

That requires us to work harder to keep our minds healthy through therapy, spiritual discipline, meditative practice, exercise, and/or medication?

What if we must learn to lean into the fullness of who we are and realize that there is a gift of compassion in our deep feelings and over-planning?

What if we embrace

Common humanity?

 

Dear God: You have put us on this path together. Help us to love and support one another in common humanity and help us to reframe the stigma of mental health disorders. Guide those of us whose brain chemicals are imbalanced and help us not to believe the lies that we are fundamentally flawed and must be “fixed.” Help us to be the healthiest versions of ourselves possible through the healthiest means possible and help us to use all parts of ourselves for good. With you all things are possible. With you, our broken selves are whole. Thank you. Amen.