Stigmatized

I'm worried

About everything,

Almost all the time.

I'm sure someone can relate to that,

Right?

Consciously I know that everything is ok...

For now.

I don't know what from my past will come and ruin that,

Or if new things will throw old things off balance

For the worse.

I just don’t know.

From the outside looking in,

It seems like I'm just cautious.

From the outside looking in,

It looks like I’m just grasping for some excuse at attention.

From the outside looking in,

I’m just another girl with some normal hysteria.

Truth be told,

I hate being the center of attention

Truth be told,

I actually care about myself,

My life

And the good people in it to the point of constant worry.

Truth be told,

I am a woman but hysteria is wrongly associated with the organs I have.

Have you ever noticed

The roots of that awful word—hysteria—

It all stems from some nervous reaction

Associated with the uterus.

Wrong.

Wrong, wrong, WRONG.

I am NOT defined by my organs

Or by the things that society has associated with them.

I AM WHO I AM.

I am a tiny piece of the image of Yahweh Himself,

As we all are

Because we’re all made in that image

No matter the parts we have.

So why do I worry?

There’s this very real thing called anxiety.

Like other mental illnesses,

Like the uterus,

It, too, has been stigmatized.

It’s a shame to talk about it in public.

It’s wrong because you draw attention to such an awful subject.

Again, wrong.

It’s real.

It’s very, very real.

It’s just one tiny part of the truth this world holds.

The truth is contagious,

And not like a disease,

But like a great flood meant to cleanse the Earth.