This picture just came through my Facebook newsfeed. I’ve seen it before, but this time it hit different. It might just have something to do with the fact that the person who shared it had also recently tried to shame me for getting the COVID vaccine. Regardless, it prickled.

Memes, or shirts, as the case may be, that try to influence others by shaming them never do anything more than steep in their own celebratory self congratulation. The wearer gets to feel superior in their “healthy diet and exercise with regular chiropractic care and superior nutritional supplements” while looking down on, and making assumptions about, those who take medications.

Medications, by the way, are taken by all kinds of people, for all kinds of reasons, even among those who eat that elusive “healthy” diet. It is unfair and ableist to assume that if someone needs a medication they must be doing something wrong. Medications exist to help people. Medications save lives.

Are they overprescribed? Sure. Are they sometimes unnecessary? Of course. Can they occasionally be discontinued if lifestyle changes are made? Yes. But none of that changes the fact that 1) They are sometimes crucial to a person’s health and well-being, and 2) We have NO IDEA why someone takes a medication or what their personal health records look like. None. That is between them and their doctor, and it is both ignorant and arrogant to think otherwise.

I have never made any secret of the fact that I take mental health medications. At the time of this writing I take two regulaly, and one as a PRN. I need them. And I say that with no shame and no disclaimers. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I would not be alive without them. If someone wants to shame me for that, that’s their prerogative, and it’s on them, not me.

The problem with photos like this one is that they’re trying to take down an entire collective of people, people that we know nothing about. It’s unfair, and it’s unkind.

If you eat a healthy diet (and it stands to be said, the word “healthy” is one of the most subjective words on the planet), and exercise, and see a chiropractor, and take superior supplements, great! Truly. Good for you. And if you don’t need any medications, even better. But looking down on those who live a different lifestyle isn’t going to do what you think it will. It won’t motivate, and it won’t inspire. Making assumptions never helped anyone, either.

People are fighting all kinds of battles we know nothing about. People are all on individual journeys. There are a million reasons why someone might be on a medication, and a million reasons why someone may or may not be eating or exercising or supplementing the way you deem “right.”

Life is hard. Go easy.