07/25/2022
I have endless belief in human beings.
When I see that a vast majority of people are: depressed, anxious, + addicted (to substances, to other people, to avoidance, + to various forms of escapism)—I see a society that functions + normalizes things that create emotionally unhealthy adults. My belief is that these disorders are actually people’s healthy response to unsafe or dysfunctional environments. Rather than normalizing sickness, we need to have conversations about changing the way we function as a society. People are unwell for a REASON.
SOME THINGS THAT ARE “NORMAL” THINGS THAT ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL:
1. Doing jobs we hate at companies that: violate boundaries, pay terribly, discard employees or leave them feeling not valued or replaceable.
2. Placing pressure on children starting at young ages to perform + achieve academically in subjects they have little or no passion for.
3. Modeling love as: abuse, betrayal, enabling or caretaking.
4. Polarizing (black + white thinking) used on both sides to create collective fear to promote political agendas.
5. Downplaying the *vastly important* role of parenting + mothering (as well as not providing the emotional support parents need to raise healthy children)
6. Survival mode as an acceptable way of living
7. Disconnection from nature + healthy food sources.
8. Family messaging that relies on guilt, manipulation, or fear to keep family members controlled or in line that is labeled as “cultural.”
9. Alcohol used as a way to cope, unwind, relax, celebrate every function.
10. Conditioning girls to be kind + polite (fawn response) while conditioning boys to be strong + manly (emotional suppression)
11. A lack of meaning or purpose— conditioning human to be production machines. Stripping humans of their creative nature.
12. Lack of community, connection, being of service.
13. Chronic loneliness + isolation
14. Urgency culture: expecting everyone to be available 24/7
15. Promoting secrecy or denial as a way to deal with issues within families in the name of “moving on from the past”
