Occasionally, I’m asked by someone who, after spending some time with me, and whether or not they know I’m working on UnLabelMe, something along the lines of, “Are you ADD?” or “you must be ADHD,” or some such reference to mental health diagnoses. Truth is, I’ve never been diagnosed with any DSM label, I haven’t given a rat’s tuchis about what it might be, and it certainly doesn’t matter to me one iota at this point in my life. 

I’ve never been on a psych med, I’m happy and proud of that, having navigated grief and periods of low-level depression throughout my life. This is my brain, this is how I roll, I may be “all over the place” and instead of trying to “ensmall” it, or change it, or have it be made to seem “too much,” my intention always is how to use this mind and lens of mine more/most effectively. For me.

Having grown up with mental illness all around me, I have witnessed the many sides of the intersection between Mental Health and Mental Illness…and how elemental our States of Mind/Heart/Spirit/Soul are to how we move through the world, inside and out.  

While there may be several “Everythings” that we may agree on, in my opinion there’s one upon which our well-being rests, and without which none of the other “Everythings” may fully be experienced: Mental Health is Everything.

A few years ago, I began to be a conduit for the mental health stories of people of all ages. I was blown away by everyone’s openness and transparency. People are not just willing to talk, they are eager to do so, to share personal truths and take ghosts out of closets and pink elephants out of rooms. I can attest to the leadership of Youth to unshame and destigmatize the vast amount of labels and diagnoses that are enmeshed in society. Some that carry with them a wide spectrum of beliefs, assumptions, misunderstandings and judgments.

Covid was a global trauma event that challenged EVERYONE’S mental health, and most people don’t want to talk about. Who doesn’t know someone – or MANY someone’s – who are struggling with their mental health (or is it, “mental illness”)?

The duality of labels – simultaneously helpful and (often) harmful/limiting – is probably most prominently illuminated in mental health. It’s why I’m so keen on spreading the ethos and tagline of UnLabelMe to as many people as possible – “Label Me to See Me. UnLabel Me to Know Me.” We must absolutely all try to limit our tendency to see someone for their diagnosis. And if/when we do that, we are all losing.