Why It's Time For Us, As Women, To Stop Calling Ourselves 'Crazy'
You're just being funny, but it's hurting you — and the women around you.
Aleshyn_Andrei / shutterstock A few years ago, there was a catchphrase going around on social media, used primarily by women.
It's the simple but telling combination of the words "my" and "crazy." For some, this trend has stuck around and become totally normal. It seems as though nobody even thinks about it anymore.
Generally, it's used in the context of excusing, justifying, or disqualifying something by calling certain behaviors, circumstances, or sides of a personality "my crazy".
For example, "Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband who constantly puts up with my crazy." Or, "Thank God for my yoga practice (or insert chocolate or alcohol) because it calms my crazy."
In the previous examples, "crazy" is used as a noun, like an object that is owned or kept, even though the word "crazy" is almost always an adjective, in reference to mental health.
We need to stop calling ourselves crazy. What might seem like a cute or light-hearted way to describe our eccentricities is actually more of an insult than you might think.
Do we set ourselves back calling ourselves 'crazy'?
Before we go further, let's examine some of the textbook definitions of "crazy."
According to the dictionary, it means mentally deranged, especially as manifested in a wild or aggressive way.
Some synonyms for crazy include: mad, insane, out of one's mind, deranged, demented, not in one's right mind, crazed, lunatic, unhinged, mad as a hatter, mad as a March hare
Some informal ways of saying it include: mental, nutty, nutty as a fruitcake, off one's rocker, not right in the head, round/around the bend, raving mad, batty, bonkers, cuckoo, loopy, ditzy, loony, bananas, loco, with a screw loose, touched, gaga, not all there, out to lunch, crackers, nutso, out of one's tree, wacko, gonzo, etc.
None of the above is very flattering, especially when you consider that the opposite of it is the word "sane."
The strange power of using 'crazy' as a noun
But let's take a look at the textbook definition of "crazy" when used as a noun as it is in the new popular context.
As a noun, crazy is defined as a mentally deranged person.
And there you have it.
Just to be clear, when you own that you have some kind of "crazy," you are actually saying you have a mentally deranged person within you or around you.
That you're so grateful that your husband puts up with that mentally deranged person. And thank God that yoga, chocolate, or alcohol prevents you from being a mentally deranged person.
Yes, there are other cuter definitions of "crazy" but this very mainstream, common use is enough to say, "Um, no, thank you."
What if what we're calling 'crazy' are normal reactions?
You are not a mentally deranged person just because:
- You have feelings and emotions.
- You experience the ups and downs of life that everyone, including your husband, experiences.
- You are more than a little upset at the current state of our world.
- You are a parent and are experiencing all the normal challenges of parenthood.
- You care passionately about your career or business and strive for the highest value in all you do for it.
- You sometimes get sick, feel down, or are tired.
- You are a human being.
No, what you call your "crazy" is in no way a clinically diagnosed mental illness, but just normal, human life on this planet.
Have you ever thought about if you ever hear a man claim that he has "crazy" because he sometimes:
- Raises his voice?
- Puts his foot down at home or on the job?
- Enforces his personal boundaries?
- Isn't feeling well, physically?
- Is having a bad day?
- Occasionally wants to knock a few back to take the edge off at the end of the week?
No, because it's perfectly acceptable for him to experience emotions and react in very normal ways under very normal circumstances.
Calling yourself 'crazy' is no joke
Perhaps you're thinking that we don't need to take it so seriously or to just lighten up. Why can't we just say it as a joke?
Because it was only a few generations ago that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers could legally be committed to mental institutions and subjected to horrible abuse, entirely against their will just because their husband or father claimed they were "crazy" for any reason they deemed fit — without clinical evidence of that being the case.
It was just a few generations ago that it was perfectly acceptable and legal for a man to slap his wife to "put her in her place".
But, most importantly, our thoughts and words create our beliefs, which in turn create our actions, and ultimately create our reality.
No, women, you are not even close to being mentally deranged. You are dynamic, emotional, passionate goddesses that are residing in these physical bodies for the time being that, of course, are sometimes presented with challenges.
That's not crazy. That's normal and even beautiful.
Dina Robison is a soulmate attraction coach, law of attraction coach, and creator of deliberate attraction online courses.