Three little pills.
Stigma can be hard. In some ways it can be harder for a man. This isn’t meant to diminish those that identify as another gender. But men are supposed to be strong. Men are supposed to be tough. Men are supposed to be problem solvers. We are not supposed to be the problem. So stigma can be hard. It takes an already hard life and makes it harder. I say this as someone who has faced stigma. I have faced it from others. I have faced it from myself. I have faced it for my mental illness and I have faced it for the way I address that mental illness. From the age of fifteen I have taken medication. This medicine pledges to make me mentally stable. Does it? Sometimes I wonder. I wonder if three little pills a day can really make a difference. But they do. They do because when I take them I get to wake up in my own bed. I do not wake up in the bed of some psych ward in some hospital. I know they make a difference when I hold children and I feel love. So when I feel that stigma I remember what I need to do to go on feeling that love. I need to continue taking those three little pills.
