I chose this video after I realized I recognized a name—Neal
Walia. It took me a second to realize this was a video from an event called TEDxOU,
and that though my only memory of him was as a teenager who knew a friend of
mine, he obviously went to OU at some point! To see him speak here with Jake
Morgan in this talk about understanding mental illness through empathetic storytelling
was very interesting! It’s so cool to see that this
event was held on OU's campus. Their message of connecting with our OU family on more than just the surface is one that should be taken more
seriously by our students who so often needlessly suffer alone with the weight
of personal problems. They shone a light on the fact that even the most stable
seeming of individuals could be harboring a secret that they feel shame or anxiety
about- like Neal’s bipolar disorder or Jake’s clinical depression. For two guys
who seem on the outside such perfect examples to admit such truths behind the
veil of their star-student personas shows how even those who most successfully
cover their internal challenges are much like the rest of us who are actually visually a mess.
The stigma behind mental health problems leads to students bearing
a load of shame in the shadows. The conditions that arise from chemical imbalances
in the brain such as the ones they spoke about are all too common, but as they
said are “not usually advertised on a stage.” I can say personally that this is true. They put a humorous spin on connecting through
such a sad shared experience, but as Jake stated: “The statistics are there to
show we aren’t alone, but the dialogue isn’t.” Their emphasis on how our ability
as humans to empathize as not only logical but biological was something I didn’t
know, so now thinking back to the many stories that shed light on such
conditions I have such respect for the author giving their readers that ability
to put on the shoes of someone so affected. As hard as it is, being vulnerable
and putting our experiences on “paper” so to speak is key to starting a
conversation about mental illness which is so often invisible.It is SO hard to be explicit about mental illness, so I
really appreciate this video. Especially knowing these words were spoken in my
own community puts my mind at ease and gives me encouragement that the project
that they oversaw (whenever this video was shot) might have helped someone.
(Image Source: Pixabay Stock Photos)
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