Having a tough time? Brains are weird
Some of you may be familiar with the campaign launched a little while back by our friends beyondblue, called "Brains can have a mind of their own." And it's true: often our brains do have a mind of their own. Brains are so weird that researchers still don't properly understand how they work, or what happens when they stop working.
This can make it really hard to figure out how to help ourselves when we're feeling down, or stressed, or confused and overwhelmed about something. This confusion comes up a lot on the forums:
"I feel like crap all the time but I don't know why. I have good friends and am doing well at school, so why am I miserable?"
"Is it normal to not enjoy anything anymore?"
"I'm so tired all the time but I can't fall asleep - why?!"
"How do I know if I'm gay or just going through a phase?"
"I know I'm probably not going to be bitten by a giant radioactive spider and then get eaten by a zombie, but why am I still TERRIFIED of leaving the house in case it happens?"
Ok, that last one is a little exaggerated, but anxiety is a very real thing (trust me, like you I've been dealing with it for a looooong time). And it can often be hard to figure out why on earth we're feeling this way ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME.
Does everyone else feel like this all the time? Surely they can't? They all seem so normal. What if they find out I'm like this, and that instead of doing normal functional people things, I'm reading a weird post on a weird forum about how weird our feelings are? (How many times can this poster say the word 'weird' in a sentence?!)
Brains are weird. Feelings are weird. A lot of the time they just don't make sense, or we feel like we shouldn't be feeling the way we do.
It's okay. I promise.
If you'd like, we can journey through the weirdness together. Maybe someday we'll figure out how to fix our brains for good, but in the meantime we at ReachOut are here. And we shall do our best at being your superhero:
Comments
Super here for this attitude!
I am currently studying psychology and neuroscience and every day I learn something about the human brain that makes me say “huh, that makes so much sense”. The things I learn about neurophysiology make me feel way better about when I’m feeling a little strange. I Feel wayyyy less guilt now, because I know there’s a legit reason for it.
@peacelovepizza Same here! Often I think people have this instinct that learning more about mental ill health or how their brains work will confuse them more, or make them feel worse for some reason? Maybe initially it can be confusing, but for me, learning about neuropsychology has been a huge help. It helps me not to blame myself if I feel bad out of nowhere, as @lokifish spoke about in their original post. I even have a bit of a silly name for my anxiety: Hansel. Whenever my anxiety tells me untrue or boring stories "I'm worthless" "I'm a failure and always will be" "Nobody loves me", I can just tell my anxiety "Cool story, Hansel" and it immediately makes me feel better. Laughing at the untrue stories my brain tells me sometimes helps me diffuse the anxious feelings and 9 times out of 10 I can laugh at myself. Even my parter says "That's just Hansel talking again" which is actually a great help.
love that perspective @peacelovepizza ! Knowledge and understanding is a powerful hing.
My fav thing about the brain has got to be neuro-plasticity - the way it can be changed and healed from pretty much anything, is so encouraging and fills me with hope when things are feeling heavy.
I love this post! This makes me feel so much better about seeking help for what I'm going through. You have just summed up everything, and I want to thank you so much for using humor to make it seem like not such a big dramatic deal... You made this sound human and I greatly appreciate it.
Hi @jeaniousmarie1701 welcome to ReachOut and thank you for your lovely post! We are so glad it has made you feel better about seeking help for what you are going through Just letting you know I am also going to send you an email so please keep a look out 
I love this so much @lokifish.
The idea of "journeying through the weirdness together" - is such a perfect way to describe what the forums are all about.
Life is weird, and often hard, brains are bizzare - together we can get through this.
(If you want to chat some more about how you're feeling, click here and then press "start a topic")
And kudos to @Bee for helping with inspiration for this post
