Mental illness is not a joke.
Mental illness is not something to be made fun of, it’s not something that people choose to have, it’s not something that anyone wants.
Waking up this morning to see these posts by someone who is a fairly big role model to young women bagging out another popular role model who is also one of my very good friends has broken my heart.
Rosie (cleanbodyfreshstart) has been one of biggest support posts I’ve had in my life. She has been nothing but caring, loving, and supportive of me throughout my journey and recovery. She has consistently put my wellbeing above her own, especially when we lived together, and has never made me feel as if I’m worthless.
As we all know, Rosie has been struggling lately with her own demons, and I am so proud to say that she is continuing to come out on top - she is thriving and fighting her battles with such a positive outlook on everything.
Rosie would call me when she got leave from the hospital, to tell me about how well she was doing. As someone who has first hand experienced these places, I cannot describe how elated I was to hear that she was doing well. From what I’ve heard - Rosie has gained a new lease on life, a new outlook, and an even brighter positive attitude towards all aspects of life.
Rosie has not once in the years I have known her, promoted mental illness. We have had many discussions about this, and all I can remember is the both of us agreeing that we would never wish this on anyone else. Rosie has been fighting a battle for the most part of her life and she has finally built up so much strength and courage to really make a change and take a huge step in her recovery. I can’t think of a time I have ever been prouder in my life.
When I woke up this morning and checked Tumblr to see Kubby’s post, I had to know what was going on. Didn’t take me long to find out, considering durianrider is such a big “role model” I found it quite fast. Which means anyone can find it.
He is making a personal attack on someone who has done no wrong, he is making a personal attack on people with mental illness. Durianrider does not know Rosie, has not met Rosie, does not know her story or why she has been struggling for so long. In fact, not many people do. It is extremely unfair of him to publicly accuse Rosie of having a victim complex, a drug addiction, or any of the other outlandish claims he has made.
I lived with her for a long time, I first hand know that none of this is factual!
Rosie has been struggling, yes, but that does not give anyone the right to assume they know her battles. No one has the right to speak on her behalf, especially to the entire world.
Reading these posts made me feel so terrible - I have suffered from mental illness in my life, and so have many other people - does this mean we all have victim complexes? Are we all ‘faking’ it? Do we all need to grow up and stop feeling sorry for ourselves?
After lots of thinking, the answer is NO. We all have demons. We all have battles to fight ourselves. We are all walking our own journeys and NO ONE, not even someone with 100k+ Instagram followers has the right to undermine Rosie, myself, or anyone else.
This is for you Durianrider, I think you need to have a long hard look at yourself and figure out what it is that you are missing in your life - because no genuinely happy person would EVER spend their time spreading harsh lies about someone else on the Internet. I hope you take your recovery as seriously as Rosie has been taking hers, and I truly hope you beat your own demons.
