This Life

We are all by default judgemental.  We see someone down the street wearing all black clothing with black hair and dark makeup we assume that they are into the gothic scene.  This is due to how society has labeled this person. It is not our fault just the way we have been bought up. In other ways we might see someone we have not met with for  years.  An instant thought might be, 'Wow they got old.' You don't relay that information to the person because you are aware that it will hurt their feelings.  Well I would hope that you don't.  I want to give you a scenario.  You bump into an old friend at a supermarket after 7 years. They look well just a little tired. You ask them how they are and they start to tell you about how they have battled with severe depression. How do you feel about what they have just told you? Now lets change that to them telling you about there battle with an illness that almost killed them. Which do you have more sympathy for and why?
My guess is that the life threatening illness was of more importance.  This is due to the stigma that society has placed on mental illness.  Personally if I run into people I haven't seen for a while I don't tell them anything more than, 'I'm good.' Why? Nobody wants to hear it. I'll be blunt here. I have told people and I'm met with the same face over and over again.  The glazed over look, the nod and smile and the people that can't stop to chat because they have somewhere else to be. I live in a very sad and lonely world full of otheres that don't understand because my symptoms are not on the outside for the world to see.
Here are a list of what I am feeling just today: headache, nausea, aching knees, sore neck and shoulders, blocked nose, depression, anxiety, frustration, dizziness, and extremely fatigued. Take out the mental health issues and you would think that I was just coming down with the flu. Well no this is a quite common day for me.  Yes I take medication and I see a psychologist and things have improved.  My hope is that one day I will be able to tell that person about my struggle without the stigma attached.