Awhile ago, I had the privilege of attending an event with our state NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) organization. The event is called “Beautiful Minds”, and this is the second year that it has been held. I won’t go into all of the details of the evening, but one of the overall themes is that we celebrate the fact that many well-known people (actors, authors, singers, etc.) experience or have experienced mental illness. In the event, several actors portray well-known people we have had mental illness. Some examples include Mark Twain, Lady Gaga, Rosanne Barr, Judy Garland, Jimmy Stewart, and Doris Day. And, as we all know, mental illness can strike anywhere, and famous people are no exception.
Although I am sure there are multiple reasons why this event is so important, I know that having an event like this helps to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. If well-known people can have mental illness and still be successful, it doesn’t have to define someone or hold them back. People with mental illness can do amazing things, and Beautiful Minds helps to showcase that. In fact, although mental illness (and depression, as I typically like to highlight) is not something anyone would choose, an event like Beautiful Minds highlights that wonderful things can still happen despite it.
Of course, most of us are not famous. However, for anyone suffering from a mental illness, it is important to know that it does not have to hold you back. You can still work to do the things that you want, and there is much respect for trying to take a mental illness and find a way to either recover from it and/or make it a part of your life somehow.
I think no matter what, we all have beautiful minds. How about you? I hope we can all appreciate how great our minds are.