Normalizing Mental Health Matters

Let’s get real — normalizing mental health matters is the elephant in every room.

Photo by Matthew Ball on Unsplash

What the hell is normal, anyhow?

The answer is far easier than we tend to make it. Normal is what’s right for you.

Yet society has concocted numerous bizarre notions of what normal should be. For example — man and woman marry and produce children; you work a 9–5 job Monday-Friday; hobbies are gender-specific.

Then, it often goes deeper and becomes a lot more insidious. Rather than accept alternative variations of normal, we judge. Why doesn’t that couple produce a child? How do you make money doing that unconventional job? Why is your golf case full of swords? Abnormalities, in the eyes of some.

But that’s not the worst of it. Certain expectations on behalf of large swaths of society about “normal” are destructive. For example — women who aren’t subservient to men are horrid; men who cry and show other emotions are weak; boys who play with dolls and girls who play with trucks are backward. All these notions of “abnormal” are unhealthy and tear the fabric of our society apart.

Because of these standards of normal, we either try to live up to or resist — mental health takes a real beating. When we refuse to address this — or…