Student Life October 2019

A BATTLE WITH THE WORLD
BY TSHEQUA WILLIAMS
When talking about suffering with
mental health problems, people often
use the phrase ‘battling with mental
health’ as if the person who is unwell is
metaphorically in a fight against their
brain. While this is true, I feel that as
well as having to deal with our own poor
mental health, we also must fight a battle
with the world.
Within the world there are so many
things that can become more intense
and difficult to manage.
From my own lived experiences, it can be
really frustrating when you are surrounded
by people who are unknowingly blind
to how things can affect you, how the
simplest of things can make life really
difficult to cope with. Whether it’s because
they do not understand or are not properly
educated on the reality of dealing with
mental health illness, the lack of empathy
can be really condescending when your
feelings are belittled.
There’s also the added pressure to keep up
with the world – things like socialisation,
work commitments and important
responsibilities are difficult to manage and
with mental health illnesses being viewed
lightly as ‘hidden disorders’, it can feel like
a burden to keep up with everything when
not everyone can see or understand the
effect (as they might with a physical health
problem). I read recently about the idea of
including “you don’t need to reply to this”
or “no need to reply now” to emails and
texts – even little things like this can take
off a lot of worries and pressure about
having to respond instantly if you aren’t in
the right headspace.
Obviously both physical and mental
health illnesses can affect people’s lives in
extreme ways, yet it is important to raise
an awareness of the many ways that a
mental health illness can affect someone.
The message I wanted to portray was
that – if you are suffering, keep on
battling against the world and everything
that keeps you from living your life, you
are strong and worthy of empathy and
understanding from the world. If you aren’t
suffering, try and consider how even the
smallest things can be overwhelming – just
because it’s not a broken leg, it doesn’t
mean that it won’t necessarily prevent a
person from living their life normally.
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