This is Us

[Music]

i have three words for you

society behavior balance

now i know after i said these three

words it didn’t mean anything to you

why let me help with that now let’s put

these three words in context

and go deeper into its meaning

for society to have an impact on us it

first has to go through three stages

the first step is setting up how society

acts and how the norms are in it

society is a group of people living in a

community

or an organized group for a common

purpose

the second step is behavior this is the

way we act

or change to fit into the normal status

of society

no matter what that is

the last and final step is balance

this is when we have changed or made our

behavior mimic

the norms of society to feel like we fit

in and feel like the other people

in our environment see

now once you put these three words in

context they fall in place

one after another these three words are

compatible with each other

meaning you can’t have one without the

other you can’t have functioning society

without human behavior you can’t have

balance

without going through this two steps

this is what my talk focuses on it’s a

lack of respect

and awareness for society’s behavior

on mental illness pressuring us to play

a role in society

where we can’t express our pain freely

i like many other teenagers and people

who suffer from this issue

play a big role in society where i feel

i can’t tell people my issues because of

the fact that i’m scared

of looking different as a clear

consequence of me not expressing my

emotions and problems

i feel like managing those feelings in

my head

it’s not shown because over the years as

i’ve matured i have found ways to

minimize it

and keep myself calm but sometimes it’s

not that easy

my family has seen that side of me

before and i can explain it

as if it’s like a flip of a switch one

moment

i’m calm telling them i am fine and then

like a flip of a switch in the best

words i am a mess

it hurts for me not to be able to

project myself and tell someone how am i

feeling

i know that i’m at fault for that but

i’ve just been accustomed

over the years that it didn’t matter and

that if i didn’t

look at it or think about it then it

will heal and go away

on its own we always talked and heard

about increasing awareness for either

mental health

or illnesses whether some school social

media

or television ads we have all seen

something that explains them in detail

and how we can decrease the stigma

around this topic but we never take the

step forward

after that yes our generation has

improved

we have created more awareness and

breaking the stigma

about this topic is easy saying it’s

okay to be different

and it’s okay to be normal but this is

only a local fix

we have never really created awareness

that spreads globally

and calls for extreme change because

society

makes it and names it as irrelevant

this paragate is something we all play a

part in but we truly are taking steps

for it to break down that wall

that’s the issue we have we don’t ever

want to be a problem

at least i never did since i was young i

always wanted a happy life

with no problems at all but as i grew up

older

i realized that was never gonna be real

so i tried

i tried to make sure i wasn’t a problem

for either my parents

or my friends because i thought it would

be too much for them

when my friends or parents would ask me

if i was all right

or okay i would always respond with a

comment saying

yeah i’m fine or it’s okay

i did this because i didn’t want to be a

burden for them

explaining my problems that was going on

in my life or in my head

and expect them to relate and tell me it

was okay

was something i couldn’t imagine i never

liked expressing my feelings to others

because i always

heard that they were either sorry for me

or that they couldn’t hear it

but i never wanted to hear that because

it would always create issues for them

i just wanted them to relate but now

i know that’s never going to happen i

know they can never relate

but at least they’re willing to listen

this is a problem shown in others

because as a society

we ridicule showing our emotions saying

we are being too dramatic

or just not that serious when someone

comes up and tries to express a hint

that they might be suffering from a

mental problem

we say it’s a phase or go away

why because that’s what’s been imprinted

are in our heads

from social media before i think a great

example of this is what our current

president

joe biden as many as you know

our president suffers from a stuttering

problem or better known as a speech

disorder

he was born with it and there’s nothing

he can do to fix it

but that doesn’t stop social media for

putting the spotlight on his disorder

and poking fun at it i would always see

articles and videos of new news outlets

ridiculing it

and now that he’s our president it’s

only been emphasized

and put under a big bright light

if the most respected and the most

powerful person in our country

is getting teased about a disorder that

he can’t control

how are teenagers like i my age supposed

to go out in public

and confess that i have depression or

i’m suicidal

in schools we have a week dedicated to

mental health

but maybe instead of just dedicating

this time for a week called mental

health week

we inform and educate our communities

every day

informing others who suffer from this

issue that they

know that they are welcomed and that

it’s okay to feel different like i did

if we adopt these changes then our world

will be flipped on its side

seeing people opening up and accepting

who they are

putting our foot forward making

improvements on

programs that can help people who suffer

from these problems like i did

most importantly we can finally

acknowledge that this is a crucial

issue in our society and feeling

different is normal

and welcoming them in today’s world

then maybe from this we can find our

balance

in life thank you