Fake It Til You Make It Analysis

During high school, I took public transportation to school every morning, but unlike Peta Cox, I never wanted anyone to sit next to me. I preferred sitting alone for two reasons: first, because people often eat their breakfast on the bus, and the smell of food makes me hungry. Second, because I was mentally ill. I had long-term depression and I was anti-social; I saw the world in a shade of grey. However, one day I decided to change and escape the grip of depression. I tried pretending to be a sane person, someone who most people would not mind sitting next to. I started “faking it til I made it” not just when I was on the bus, but also in my everyday life. However, the cruel reality is that I did not try to pass as sane because I wanted to be a better person; I pretended to be someone else because I did not want to be despised for who I was. Dr. Cox’s article caused me to reflect on many struggles I had with mental illness. However, she overlooked the dreadful fact that sometimes stigma against mental illness leaves the patients no choice but to pass as sane. “Fake it til you make it” could be a feasible cure to …show more content…
Cox quotes Kenneth Paterson, a social scientist, who compares passing as sane to “wearing a mask” and rejecting of one’s true self. Pretending to be someone else is the essential part of “faking it til you make it”, but people may lose part of themselves in the process. However, in some cases that might not necessarily be a bad thing. Many times, I looked down from the 10th floor, thinking that one jump would free me from all my misery. I was suicidal because I hated that part of me that made me small and pathetic. In my case, I desperately needed to forsake that part from me, or else I would never be happy. For those who have it, mental illness becomes a part of people’s personality and what defines them. For some patients such as myself, patients suffering from mental illness are able to redefine themselves, but this might not be true for all