Posted by just plain jane on January 26, 2005, at 8:51:15
In reply to do you define yourself by your disorder(s)?, posted by smokeymadison on January 23, 2005, at 17:20:22
no.
"i am, and have always beeen, your friend."
no... that was Spock to Kirk via Bones.
i am myself. i am unique, the only me there is and the only person like me.
some my behavior and thought processes may fall into the technical disorder categories of societal necessity, but they are behaviors and thought processes, not illnesses, as they have been since well before i received the diagnoses. in those days i was just "weird". i know several of you i have conversed also felt or were labelled weird. but this does not define me.
i have physical features, which are basically static, but they do not define me.
my communicative skills are fairly well developed in my native languages. my speech patterns, voice, accent, inflections, are all identifiably mine unless i alter them. but they do not deine me.
my behavior and attitude can intentionally or unintentionally cover an extensive range. my thought *processes* are biological/chemical in nature, my ability to control my responses to them fluctuates with mood, circumstance, medication, desire. but these things do not define me.
all of these things and more can be classified by societal standards, whatever they may be today, which have undoubtedly been labelled something else before and will be labelled something else in the future. these are what comprise my "disorders" and my "normal" behavior. still, they do not define me.
i define myself by who i am today, what my genuine character is; who i am. the who who lives in the core of all of this. the who who decides, ultimately, if and what she is going to, or not going to do; whether or not she believes things, mostly on a subconscious, perhaps instinctive, level.
i can have major traumas dealing with the emotional pain of bygone traumas; be what appears as over the edge, angry, sad, in agony, frustrated, any of the reactional states, but they are not allowed to violate my *self*.
because i am, by definition, simply myself. and her, i must take care of.
and how are you this fine morning?
just plain jane.
poster:just plain jane
thread:446358
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050123/msgs/448010.html