Rotem
Rotem
I am who I am
I’ve had some gifts in my life: borderline personality disorder, manic depression, and PTSD. They make me unique.
At the age of 13, Rotem experienced mania for the first time and was subsequently hospitalized for four and a half months. After she was released from the hospital, Rotem hid her mental health issues because of fear of discrimination.
It took seven years before she felt comfortable sharing her hospitalization with others, and she did so in a big way: by releasing a book.
The Creator created a garden of flowers of all colors and species and there is a place for everyone. Over the years, my uniqueness has been labeled as a condition. It’s okay to express those feelings.
Rotem explains that a culture of silence exacerbates mental disorders. Because of this silence, people are forced to deal with their problems alone. They are afraid and ashamed to ask for help.
“The thing that hurts the most about mental health struggles is being told to act normal, as if we are not people capable of being more than our condition.”
Rotem laments that society forces people living with mental health conditions to hide their true selves, to smile forcefully, and behave “normally” even when they are in pain. She believes that trying to avoid expressing emotions is a recipe for mental and physical sickness.
The thing that hurts the most about mental health struggles is being told to act normal, as if we are not people capable of being more than our condition.
Rotem recounts a conversation etched into her memory from her stay at a psychiatric hospital. She met a new patient and they immediately had a conversation about why they were hospitalized.
‘Do you think I’m crazy?’ he asked. I looked him in the eye, took a deep breath, and said to him, ‘What’s a crazy person?! Maybe most people are ‘normal,’ but only one is like you. And just because they’re the majority, it doesn’t mean they’re always right.’
Today, Rotem has many accomplishments. She is a mother of one, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, an MBA, and six course certificates in various fields. She is also a fierce mental health advocate and challenges conventions that others take for granted.
We are at war every day as we try to explain our uniqueness, to deal with our complex and multicolored personalities, to express the gifts that we face in front of a society that normalizes people. I don’t want to be ‘normal’ and lose my unique identity. I am who I am! In pain, in happiness, in hardship, in downfall, and in feelings of spiritual elevation. I am who I am.
Rotem’s story is also available in Hebrew
