Topic Tuesday // Resilience as a response to discrimination // CLOSED

Go for it @Kurra!

@Former-Member - this is one of the most resilient things I've ever heard! I LOVE your bravery and commitment. You put it so well - going through it, not avoiding it.

Often for LGBTI people, this 'going through' is confronting the internal ideas that we can have about ourselves. LGBTI people learn to hide themselves, and often learn that there is one acceptable self and one shameful self. The 'going through' part for many of us, is that we're okay just the way we are, and that the same, secrecy and embarrasment is what we've learned to cope with other people's B.S 🙂

From what I've read tonight, reslience is:

- bouncing back in the face of adversity

- learning to cope with stressful situtations

- Going through challenging times

- Letting go of what other people think, and embracing your identity.

On this last point - any tips on how to emrbace your identity? I imagine this is so challenging when there are lots of negative messages/stereotypes (I'm thinking more so for people with Mi) saying that you are a certain way.

@CherryBomb, the process of identity is a really personal one, but the advice I'd say to anyone, not just LGBTI people, is that finding yourself is a continual journey and perhaps never stops. The best we can hope for is to keep getting a little bit closer every day to the life we want to lead, and to understand that there are pressures coming at us from all sides. Often these pressures are more about what we shouldn't be rather than what we can be.

Everyone's life choices is up to them to make. I had to talk through who I was in a counselling situation before I was ready to talk with anyone else about it. Others shout it from the rooftops on day one.

abolutely @Kurra and @Former-Member! Love both of your resolve.

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@Kurra wrote:
I think this is an area where the LGBTIQ community has pulled together in a positive way.
Sadly many, perhaps even the majority, who have the lived experience of MI tend to keep it hidden. In my humble opinion the more of us who are prepared to put it out there the sooner we might see small changes in attitudes.

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@Kurra I agree. I wonder how people with MI could learn from learn from LGBTI people how to embrace their identity.

There is a movement called Mad Pride, which tries to aknowledge the strengths of having a mental illness - it's a narrative we don't often hear.