If you read this blog, you can't claim to not know anyone with an invisible illness - I have Depression and migraines and chronic insomnia. I also have anxiety that gets pretty severe at times (like lately and now). And I have ADHD.
This doesn't make me weird; these are all common disorders, although there is still a stigma to them all. They don't make me weak. They don't make me a hypochondriac. They are all very real challenges that I have to overcome every day. They can also be strengths, inn their own ways.
I don't want sympathy. I don't want to be treated as if I am made of spun glass. I just don't want to be treated as if I am weak because I have to deal with these conditions. I don't want people to look down on me because my brain is a little weird.
I am who I am. The depression, anxiety, ADHD, insomnia, and migraines are a part of the whole package, but they do not define me. They are all part of the difficulties that I have had to deal with, but there is far more to who I am, and I will not let them be the definition of who I am.
Depression shows me the dark side of everything. Anxiety shows me the risks around me. ADHD helps me see things that others don't, and allows me to make the odd connections that others would never see. Migraines teach me what I am too sensitive to.
So, no, I don't see the world the same way that you do.
But maybe that's why you read this blog.
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thisdaydreamer- Up Too Late
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The only way people will understand is through informing themselves through reading and talking to people that suffer with these types of conditions.
I try not to let it hold me back, even when I'm feeling neuropathy pains and dealing with depression related and unrelated to the diabetes, but some days it's harder than others, and all people usually see is a fat person and seem to think, "Oh, THAT'S her problem." Actually, it's more of a symptom, but it's all anyone sees. Sometimes I wish we could perfect hyperprojection, where we make other people feel exactly what we're going through and see how well they handle it. It's not nice or kind or polite, but sometimes I think that's what it would take for some people.