Where I Come From
I realized today that it's a popular habit of this generation to self-diagnose, jokingly, with various mental disorders, which becomes a shield for "I don't want to have to deal with life." Top three disorders a college student will joke about having:
>>Alcoholism (Translation: I like drinking until I puke every color of the rainbow, realize this is probably not good, and don't want to take responsibility for it or change in any way right now. Of course, this one could lead to actual alcoholism.)
>>ADD /ADHD (Translation: Whatever I'm supposed to be doing is boring, and I don't feel like sucking it up and focusing. Fuck this, I'm going to pay attention to any damn thing that comes along. [I have been guilty of this one. Many times.])
>>OCD / OCPD (Translation: Some things in life bother me. Rather than just getting the fuck over it, I'm going to freak out until I snap. I cannot deal with the real world.)
No one wants to be normal. People want to be edgy and unique, perhaps known as the person who sleeps once a week for 20 minutes on a couch in the Student Union building, and spends the rest of the time participating in 16 extracurricular activity groups while snorting Red Bull Cola and making straight A's. Throw in some body-issue hangups and you have yourself the perfect Duke stereotype, my friend.
Well you know what? That shit is ridiculous. You are not going to function in the real world if you can't deal with the shit other people are going to do. You are not doing yourself any favors by "humorously" pretending to be a walking prototype of a DSM-IV diagnosis. If you have real problems with life, FUCKING DEAL with them. That's what campus psychological services are for. If you are genuinely certifiable, it is their job to return you to functionality. If you do not actually have a mental disorder, then it's time to move on. Playing at some kind of psychopathology does not make you genuinely interesting, quirky, or unique, especially not when everyone else is doing it. It does risk making you irritating, clichéd, and weird-in-a-bad-way.
Or maybe I'm just all wrong on this one, and all these people at Duke really are fucking nuts. Bunch of crazy-ass obsessive-compulsives and butterfly-chasing ADHD-affected individuals. A bounty of walking DSM criteria. If that's the case, then I take everything back except for the part about going to the psychological counseling services.
Personality disorders are not a good replacement for a boring personality. You're probably pretty normal. Accept it. Embrace it. In fact, I hereby declare myself to be one such relatively normal person. I AM NORMAL. And I will continue to be normal until I cure cancer or start hearing voices in my head that claim I already did.
>>Alcoholism (Translation: I like drinking until I puke every color of the rainbow, realize this is probably not good, and don't want to take responsibility for it or change in any way right now. Of course, this one could lead to actual alcoholism.)
>>ADD /ADHD (Translation: Whatever I'm supposed to be doing is boring, and I don't feel like sucking it up and focusing. Fuck this, I'm going to pay attention to any damn thing that comes along. [I have been guilty of this one. Many times.])
>>OCD / OCPD (Translation: Some things in life bother me. Rather than just getting the fuck over it, I'm going to freak out until I snap. I cannot deal with the real world.)
No one wants to be normal. People want to be edgy and unique, perhaps known as the person who sleeps once a week for 20 minutes on a couch in the Student Union building, and spends the rest of the time participating in 16 extracurricular activity groups while snorting Red Bull Cola and making straight A's. Throw in some body-issue hangups and you have yourself the perfect Duke stereotype, my friend.
Well you know what? That shit is ridiculous. You are not going to function in the real world if you can't deal with the shit other people are going to do. You are not doing yourself any favors by "humorously" pretending to be a walking prototype of a DSM-IV diagnosis. If you have real problems with life, FUCKING DEAL with them. That's what campus psychological services are for. If you are genuinely certifiable, it is their job to return you to functionality. If you do not actually have a mental disorder, then it's time to move on. Playing at some kind of psychopathology does not make you genuinely interesting, quirky, or unique, especially not when everyone else is doing it. It does risk making you irritating, clichéd, and weird-in-a-bad-way.
Or maybe I'm just all wrong on this one, and all these people at Duke really are fucking nuts. Bunch of crazy-ass obsessive-compulsives and butterfly-chasing ADHD-affected individuals. A bounty of walking DSM criteria. If that's the case, then I take everything back except for the part about going to the psychological counseling services.
Personality disorders are not a good replacement for a boring personality. You're probably pretty normal. Accept it. Embrace it. In fact, I hereby declare myself to be one such relatively normal person. I AM NORMAL. And I will continue to be normal until I cure cancer or start hearing voices in my head that claim I already did.