Grow a thick skin, take it as- water off a ducks back, don't worry about
it, get over it... are all comments we have endured. Why do people say
these things and are the justified? As humans we perceive everything
from our own perspective, our own eye...
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Grow a thick skin, take it as- water off a ducks back, don't worry about
it, get over it... are all comments we have endured. Why do people say
these things and are the justified? As humans we perceive everything
from our own perspective, our own eyes and other senses. That means we
can never se things 100% from anothers viewpoint- ever! Some can possess
empathy of a wide range that enables them to get some idea what the
other is feeling but not all people have that ability, they are in fact,
cold in comparison. As part of expression the ones that cannot project
themselves to know what it is like to hold a mental illness they cannot
understand a/ why we behave the way we do b/ why we cannot change it
straight away. That might well be naïve with high expectation (from our
viewpoint) but to them they are merely giving expression. What they
don't realise is that our inability to act like them is ingrown, part of
our illness or personality which, makes their demands quite unfair. In
another thread I wrote (topic: so what are their mental illnesses) I
pointed out that some seemingly "normal" people can have issues like-
bullying, gambling, drug addiction, cruelty tendencies, manipulation,
gaslighting and so on but they survive ok in society under the umbrella
of "normality" when in actual fact their issues are quite serious yet
they aren't approached to overcome their flaws. Why are we? It comes
down to a few things, one is we often put ourselves out there as someone
that is more obviously flaws (after all we have a label eg bipolar,
depressed, anxious) so that is misinterpreted as an opportunity to give
advice (rather than support). What is most important here is that your
mental illness is a part of you. When people give unwanted advice like
"grow a thick skin" they are indeed expecting you have that ability when
it is highly unlikely you don't and by the way- you have a right to be
yourself. I've developed a defence with this. "You need to grow a
thicker skin" My reply "like you need to stop smoking"? (or stop playing
psychiatrist, or stop being judgmental etc) . That might seem over
reactive but I've learned, if you keep taking these comment without
recourse- you pay a price- the comments keep coming. This is also
mentioned in the thread (topic: wit, the only answer to torment). Feel
free to put those threads in the search bar. Mental well being includes
a broad range of remedies we can apply to our daily lives. Feel free to
comment. TonyWK
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