Yeah, you could potentially be the drama

AMI and SMI are “Any Mental Illness” and “Severe Mental Illness”.

I often say that the majority of people I have met on and off the net are mentally ill in some way and that’s not an insult, it’s simply truth.

AMI has a very simple definition: 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡, 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧.

A mental illness is a condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling, behavior or mood.

There are mild mental disorders that don’t severely impact a person’s day to day living and then there are SMI that do.

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress … just as trauma is simply 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙢𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙚, mental illness is 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡, 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙙.

If you think that definition could apply to a great number of people you’d be right … because in the world we live in we’re constantly battling things like emotional and psychological abuse (from people we know, from strangers online, from the government, from the media), chronic illness, epigenetic trauma, racism, sexism, poverty, hunger and even more … for some these probably are DAILY bombardments. It stands to reason that many people suffer from various kinds of mental dysregulation.

That said, my problem with most people is not that they suffer from mental illness … but that they REFUSE to seek help or healing and continue to inflict that pain they feel upon other people … creating more and more victims of abuse and therefore perpetuating mental dysregulation.

The mental hue of an unwell person is contagious just like any virus and social media HELPS to spread that energy around in highly effective ways. So highly effective that it’s considered NORMAL now.

𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖 𝙖𝙡𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙢𝙨, 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙭𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙯𝙚, 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚’𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚.

Self-policing, in this context, is necessary for each and every person. It’s crucial for people to be independently responsible for recognizing their own mental health and how it may affect those around them. There has to be a level of self-awareness and selfNESS – which I have explained and defined countless times here.

One more time for those who still don’t get it:

𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘟𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘚𝘌 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘚. 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 … 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘕𝘌𝘚𝘚 𝘪𝘴 𝘜𝘕𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩.

SelfNESS is self-policing in a community.

It allows for awareness of whether YOU are part of the problem because of your unmanaged, undiagnosed, or unrecognized mental dysregulation.

If you are someone who genuinely cares about other people, then this idea shouldn’t be foreign to you.

If you are someone who is self-centered and self-absorbed you will push back and feel it’s not your responsibility to do anything for others and that it’s solely on them to protect themselves FROM YOU.

I have come across people like this on social media often, even here on CoSo … people who decide that their menacing, negative, combative, angry energy is perfectly acceptable and that they have zero responsibility to anyone else but themselves.

I say often that 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 and that’s true … but if yourself is someone who continuously harms others with no regard for what that means then maybe it’s time to rethink what “being you” means and if that needs to change.