You’re crazy!
I’m going to use the word “crazy” 24 times, including once in the title of this post. Some people think that crazy is a bad word. I’ve written about this topic, crazy being derogatory; the word “crazy” doesn’t necessarily have to be hateful. In fact, it can be uplifting. If you self-identify as “crazy” in a colloquial sense, you’re taking the word back. Calling someone crazy can make them feel like less than. There’s a fun kind of crazy, and there is the crazy where you probably need to seek medical attention.
I have a list of mental illnesses that I manage each day. There are times when I don’t feel like “myself,” because one of my illnesses is taking over and being extremely loud. I can point to moments when I certainly feel “crazy.” Fortunately, I have a lot of friends who feel similarly. We can relate to one another about coping with the symptoms of mental illness. I have friends who have a multitude of different mental illnesses, from personality disorders to mood disorders.
Fun Crazy
Crazy can be a fun thing. If you are eccentric, people might refer to you with this word. Maybe you’re funny, wacky or irreverent, and somebody might call you this word. Crazy can mean many things, but using it as an insult isn’t right. Turning around and telling somebody that they are acting off isn’t necessarily useful. In someways crazy doesn’t mean anything at all.
If you want to talk about being crazy, all of my friends are “crazy.” The majority of my friends live with some variety of mental illness. Many of them either have some anxiety disorder depression or something more severe like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. We all have a form of crazy. We manage it, and sometimes it overwhelms us. You can keep on calling us”crazy” to insult us it’s not going to work.
Crazy as an insult
People try to use this term against me. It feels bad. Because what they’re trying to tell me is that I don’t have my shit together. And nobody indeed has everything together all the time because then you’ll be a robot. I don’t have anything against robots because I admire the fact that robots don’t have to deal with emotions. But if you’re trying to use the word crazy to insult me good luck. I’ve taken the word back, and you can’t use it against me.
Instead of describing somebody with a mental illness as crazy, why not just be more descriptive about it? Talk about what symptoms they’re experiencing and be compassionate. Try to talk to your friends, and explain that you’re worried about them if they’re displaying behavior that you think is not typical of how they usually act. It’s sad, however, that there’s a lack of compassion when it comes to mental illness. We can start by doing away with the term “crazy.” It’s meaningless.
Crazy compassionate
Try kindness, empathy, compassion and use these things toward yourself. If you’re feeling “crazy “be kind to yourself, it’s difficult to live with mental illness Nobody prepared you for this battle. Even if your family lives with mental health problems (I have a genetic history of mental illness in my family) there’s no manual to explain how to cope with mental illness. I wasn’t prepared to deal with the level of severity of the different conditions that I live manage. There are days where I don’t feel well emotionally, and I try the best I can to be kind to myself if I can manage it. I fight my brain, and sometimes the crazy comes out, but that’s okay. We’re all doing the best that we can. When a person tries to use crazy to insult you, tell them “thank you for the compliment. I am crazy, and I embrace it.”
