Share Your Story – the King
Tell us a little about yourself
I call myself the king. Living with a Mental illness for as long as I have, is not fun. It is like living with a constant image… I’ve lived in the dark , I grew up in the darkness shrouded in violence from a early age.
Mental illness will try to keep you in the dark and will battle to stay with you … Yeah someone can say oh it’s easy just snap out of it. If only it was as simple as that. For me, it has been a battle to be myself because often it is as if we are two in one !
What mental health challenges have you experienced?
I have been challenged with 2 evils. Mental health and domestic violence. Well 4, if you count Body Positivity and Social Anxiety.
There is such a stigma in society that people who are challenged or suffering from mental health, domestic violence or body positivity. Often the stigma is that you are beneath the majority, that you are not worth living or even worth the time of day. We often feel like we are treated more like outcasts than actual people!
Let me touch briefly on Domestic Violence. As a young kid, between six years old to twelve years old, I was physically and mentally abused by my father. This happened 24 x 7. I was punched, kicked, belt buckled, slashed on my back, you name it. This happened to the degree where I did not feel anything at all. Yes, I got to the stage where I did not feel pain or emotion.
I became so withdrawn. Being withdrawn for me was in one way a protection but as a result I was shrouded in darkness which is still an issue with me to this day. As a result, I had my first bout of depression when I was 16 or 17 years old. I’m thirty one now. Depression over time worsened and I became a shadow of my former self.
How did you get support for your mental illness?
Holding on to that little bit of ray of hope of staying alive is what keeps me staying afloat. Even though a part of me died in my childhood because of the abuse I endured, I have found being very open and honest helps me as I don’t keep things bottled in. I have come to realize that ‘hope’ keeps me holding on and staying alive. And that is very important.
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