Normal is used in society as a gage to decide what is right and wrong, but what applies to one individual can greatly differ from another.
With 'not normal' comes labelling, labels give a person an assigned area in society. This can be seen in class, generation and many more factors. Some labels are sometimes degrading or offensive. If a person is labelled for long enough, they are danger of becoming that label that outsiders give us.
In mental health normality is based on how your coping and how stable your mental health is and what is normal for you. When you suffer with a long term mental illness you create your own normal. An example from my own experiences would be;
- Today I feel a bit more normal because I have done my hair, I am dressed and washed. On a bad day this is impossible.
-On a bad day normal for me is no conversation and withdraw from social places, I don't wash or dress and a I have a mental war.
For me at the moment I am not fully stable so my 'normals' are simple but achievable. My 'not normals' are destructive and impulsive behaviour, intense emotions and a fluctuating mood.
When I was more well my 'normals' were getting up, dressed, washed and off to work. After work I would come home and cook for my family and control my own finances. To me at the moment all of this would feel impossible to carry out. But other people would experience this as a 'normal' day.
Each individual has their own normals and not normals. No one has the right to label you as either. They don't know what you feel inside, just as you don't know how they are feeling inside. I don't think normal and not normal should be used for individuals or groups in society. Non of us are exact replicas of one another and all have different morals in life. It is a humanly right to be able to live the way we want to as long as we are on the right side of the law. Think before you label and other people may label you, we need to break this way of thinking as mental health stigma label will not go unless we stop the smaller everyday labels. Think before you name, label, tag or assign to an individual.