schizoetic

Being permanently mentally ill doesn't mean you'll be permanently unhappy

some of y'all weren't suicidal at 12 and it shows

People see schizophrenic people without homes on the street but don't witness the slow descent into insanity that brought them there. People see us yelling at vehicles but don't see us in our grandparents truck as a young child with a wide innocent smirk as the wind blows our hair. People see us sleeping over dirty cardboard but don't see us sleeping under lit Christmas trees with our favourite present in our grasp. People see us saying odd things and acting strangely but they don't see us shrieking and jumping into a lake before warming up beside a comforting fire. People don't see our first tooth we pull, the pencil marks we made on doorframes to document our growth, our first self-made tree-house so small that we could barely fit in it, our first colourful drawing, first friend, first anything. They overlook it all and if it's not ignorant it's grotesque. People aren't there for our middle-school or high school graduation. They haven't had hours of engaging conversations with us while rain plummets outside. Most aren't there for anything but snippets of a complex life. They see a person in dire need of help and ignore. There's no thought placed into who we can be, who we were, and hell… even who we are.

The people have requested a print, so it's up now in my shop!