Hi everyone!

I initially posted this on my personal blog but because I think it's such an important topic I decided to share it on here as well. To be honest I also didn't have a post ready for today and struggled to come up with an idea so I thought why not use an older one from my blog. I hope you don't mind and I really hope I'll find the time to brainstorm ideas soon because I hate the feeling of not being organised. One more thing I wanted to say is that when I wrote the post I called myself a non-sufferer which I now know isn't entirely true. I didn't realise or didn't want to realise that I myself have experiences with anxiety as well, more precisely with social anxiety. You can read more about that here. 

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I heard of anxiety for the first time when I was watching a YouTube video by Zoe Sugg a few years back. She mentioned suffering from panic attacks and I remember not having a clue what she was talking about. I didn't really get the term anxiety either so I had to translate the word to German in order to understand what it means. From that point I noticed some other people like Tanya Burr sharing their experiences with panic attacks as well but if I'm honest with you, I still didn't really know what those attacks were all about. I knew that anxiety existed but I feel like I wasn't actually aware of it and I didn't think about it much.

I felt bad for Zoe and Tanya having to go through all of this but what I didn't realise is just how many people actually have mental health problems and just how common those illnesses are. I mean don't get me wrong, I understood that anxiety is a serious issue but the fact that I didn't personally know anyone who suffers from anxiety or any other form of mental illness back then made me think that it doesn't concern me. What I understand now is that I was wrong with that assumption.

Things changed when I started blogging. Getting to know the blogging community and talking to different people on Twitter gave me a completely new insight into everything having to do with mental health. Other bloggers educated me on that topic through their posts, sharing their experiences with a mental illness. A few months ago we also talked about anxiety disorders, what forms there are and what causes them in psychology class. I learned about OCD, GAD and different phobias. That's when I really started thinking about mental health issues because that's when I realised how hard it is to deal with them.

When the thought of writing a post on mental illnesses as a non-sufferer first crossed my mind I  wasn't sure whether it would be a good idea or not. I just didn't want to offend anyone by saying something wrong and I certainly don't want to come across like I think I know what it feels like to have a mental illness. Because I don't. I'm aware of that. What I want the message of this post to be though is that us non-sufferers can at least try to understand the challenges some people have to face every day.

We can try to understand what a mental illness feels like by listening to those who want to raise awareness.

By meeting people with mental health issues I came to the realisation that just because I'm not experiencing it myself, doesn't mean it doesn't concern me. Anxiety, panic attacks, mental illnesses - in my opinion those are things we should all be aware of and educated about. Mental health concerns non-sufferers as well. It concerns us because by not understanding those issues we make life for those who suffer even harder.

I'm not saying that I know everything about mental illnesses. I'm just saying that what I do know is having to deal with such issues is really challenging and the fact that there are people who don't even try to be understanding makes it even worse. Because the worst thing is feeling alone and not having any support. So please, if you ever meet someone who suffers from a mental illness, listen to them when they want to talk to you about it and try to understand what they are going through. You don't have to try to offer advice, just let them know that you're there for them and that you care. You'll most likely not be able to really help them, but I feel like knowing that there are people supporting you makes things a little bit better.

I really admire bloggers who share their mental health experiences because not only do they help others who are in the same or in a similar situation, they also open the eyes of those who don't suffer from a mental illness. They surely did open mine. There are particularly two wonderful people who really helped me to understand better what it means to deal with any form of anxiety or depression.

The first one is Nicole, one of my blogger friends I'd love to meet in real life at some point. Nicole suffers from OCD and it was through her post that I became aware of that illness. She has posted lots of content about mental health on her blog where she covers the aspect of explaining a mental illness to a non-sufferer as well. So if you want to educate yourself on mental health issues (which you definitely should) I'd highly recommend you to check out Nicole's posts. Nicole, if you are reading this, I just want you to know that I really admire you. You taught me a lot and I'm so glad to consider you my blogging friend.

The other one is Marc, my incredibly kind and supportive blogger mate. Marc has been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and depression not too long ago. He's been documenting his life with anxiety on his blog lately and I have so much respect for him for doing so. His posts are so honest and he's not afraid to talk about his feelings. I talk to Marc on a daily basis and I know that he's not in a good state mental health wise at the moment so please go show him some love. Marc, thank you for trusting me and sharing your thoughts with me.

There's one thing Marc mentioned to me that I still can't believe. He said that people literally told him that mental illnesses aren't real, that he's just making it up.

Telling something like that to a person who suffers from mental health issues is so so wrong. Mental illnesses ARE real, people DON'T make them up. So please, try to be understanding. Educate yourself. Sufferer or non-sufferer, mental health concerns us all.




Much love, Sara x




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