Leslie Dulfo
Magnets. Made of iron. Aluminum. Nickel. A symbol of attracting and repelling some force field or specifically – a magnetic field.
Were you magnetized by his or her charm? So much that your end-wits ended in a collision of sorts? Way to go right? Physics! Metallurgical engineering! Too many terms. Too many words.
Point is – opposites attract in a magnetic field. A positive atom attaches itself to a negative atom. Meanwhile, similar atoms repel each other.
Have you considered why the positive needs a negative atom? Perhaps, it tells us that in order to be happy, you need sadness. In order to laugh, you must know how to cry. In order to lose teeth, you must know how to have teeth. In short, there are things you just let it be.
You have to experience life as it is with the negatives before it becomes the positives or the positives before it becomes the negatives. For how will you know that you are content, when you never went through the fact of not getting what you want? How will you know success when you, yourself, never failed at all.
Such is the mystery of life. A lot of times, as a mental health warrior, I have asked myself why I have to go through a mental illness or even a diagnosis at all. I realized that sometimes, you have to go through things just to find yourself whole.
I wonder how metaphorically; opposites attract means that one person can be attracted to another person with whom she/ he does not share any common trait. But in this world of x and y chromosomes, I think there is an intertwining chromosome so to speak – that link!
I chanced upon the laws of attraction and found out that there is no such thing as opposites attract. It satisfies that there is a link to what comes and goes in your life. Yes, a link that forces, intercedes and supersedes all forces of nature. One you can control or perhaps something can be done – by you, at the most!
Take for example, Astrology. The Zodiac Signs. The Fire, Air, Earth and Water elements by the famous Avatar series or movie. Chinese Zodiac Signs on Chinese New Year. Feng shui experts and expats in the Philippines. The list goes on.
Among all these things, which one do you believe? Believing in something or even someone can make you relatively insane.
This brings me to the question: What separates sanity from insanity? The truth? My personal circumstances taught me that it is a medical diagnosis.
I mean, when I first went to my psychiatrist in the mid-2000s, I was asked about the difference between a dog and cat. Woe and behold! I nailed it by saying the dog barks and the cat purrs. So, I guess, that says that I was sane although I was planning to climb the rooftop because of some auditory hallucinations I had.
So technically, to my mind I was sane. To my doctors, I was a bit sane but after a few dozed-offs and doses of medicines given, I realized I was medically unwell.
I always believe that you can believe in whatever the world tells you or whoever that person who happens to tell you what to do – as long as it is good for you. Meaning, it should be a healthy coping strategy. But be careful to over-believe or over-do it or else you’ll end in the mental hospital or in jail!
Who says you’re crazy? Answer is – the psychiatrist!
I therefore conclude that the difference between sanity and insanity happens to be a thin line – that of a diagnosis by an expert!
Whatever you believe in and whatever you are going through, that thin line is not a separation, obstacle or hindrance to have hope and be well. It takes a lot of strength and support systems of trial and error but it can be done.
There is really no one way or no shortcuts to healing. You just heal in your own time.
As magnetic poles attract and repel, so are life’s lessons and people’s coming and going. Hold on to that which heals and stays.