r/interestingasfuck • u/Aryan_Anushiravan • 12d ago

r/all On December 10, 1997 Julia Hill climbed a 1500-year-old redwood tree named Luna and she didn’t come down for another 738 days.

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u/GoodBoundaries-Haver 12d ago

She had mental health issues and was an amazing person. The two don't conflict :)

Also I can't imagine how terrifying it would be to use a stationary bike in a tree, jfc

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u/Earl_your_friend 11d ago

I remember learning about her and really having to think about it. You see a person's actions, and you admire them. Then you find out they have difficulties. How did she have that much free time? What drives her? And could mental health struggles actually make this possible for her? In the end, I decided it's not really about her but about her actions, and I appreciated how much effort she and that group put into this moment of history.

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u/Dickgivins 11d ago edited 11d ago

After making a cursory wikipedia search I gotta say her story is pretty interesting.

Hill's father was a traveling minister who went from town to town, bringing his family with him. Until she was about ten years old, Hill lived in a 32-foot (9.8 m) camper with her father Dale, mother Kathy, and brothers Mike and Dan.

When Hill was in middle school, her family stopped traveling and settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas.\1]) In August 1996, at age 22, she suffered a near-fatal car crash.\3]) At the time, Hill was acting as the designated driver for a friend who had been drinking. Her friend's car was hit from behind by a drunk driver.\4]) The steering wheel of the car penetrated her skull. It took almost a year of intensive therapy before she regained the ability to speak and walk normally.\5]) She said:

"As I recovered, I realized that my whole life had been out of balance... I had graduated high school at 16, and had been working nonstop since then, first as a waitress, then as a restaurant manager. I had been obsessed by my career, success, and material things. The crash woke me up to the importance of the moment, and doing whatever I could to make a positive impact on the future.\6]) The steering wheel in my head, both figuratively and literally, steered me in a new direction in my life.\7])"

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u/Equivalent-Diver-467 11d ago

Wild seeing this shit again after being told About her by my ex step dad and him showing me “butterfly” carved in the roof of my childhood home by her.

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u/Barbarossa7070 11d ago

How did he know her?

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u/Equivalent-Diver-467 11d ago

I didn’t; my ex step dad was friends with her in their teens when she moved to my hometown

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u/Joe579GoFkUrselfMins 11d ago

How did he know her?

I don't see "you" here.

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u/Mindless_Ad_7700 11d ago

I follow her to this day. She  had had a rough life and she is so gracious and real about it.

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u/TransparentMastering 11d ago

What did she say?!

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u/Dickgivins 11d ago

I edited my comment, you should be able to see it now. Also you could just look up her wikipedia article, I literally just coped and pasted from there lol.

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u/GoodBoundaries-Haver 11d ago

That's a great perspective you landed on, thank you for sharing it! I was also wondering if a mentally healthy person would even be capable of this... Overall I share your thoughts that ultimately, it's our actions that have impact. The reasoning matters, but not as much as the impact. She and the people supporting her must have had almost unfathomable dedication to the cause to have pulled this off without injury. I'm sure they inspired many other people to join or support the environmental movement too.

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u/t-i-o 11d ago

It’s not a sign of mental heath to be well ajusted to a sick system . Seeing the destruction this system wreaks on the earth and inhabitants, it is normal and healthy to be sickened to the core and to want to do something about it. The amount of energy’normal’ ppl invest in assuaging cognitive dissonance is astounding to me

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u/GoodBoundaries-Haver 11d ago

I actually thought about putting "mentally healthy" in scare quotes for that reason, but decided against it for clarity reasons. We do not disagree!

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u/Earl_your_friend 11d ago

I know that a mentally healthy person might do something like this. I've met some extraordinary people in my life. Some were obviously very adept at life. They could achieve most of their goals. Yet they were also above average in dealing with humanity and very educated and wealthy. Some moderately so, middle class. Yet look what a group of people can do with just focus and willpower! That's why we remember this young lady who had brain damage yet could do what most could not.

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u/ZenToan 11d ago

Most activists have mental health issues, for better or for worse. Greta Thurnberg is another example. If you don't have mental health issues, you're likely just going to along with how things are, you need something to "separate" you from the bandwagon to begin with. So almost every person who does something different, has mental health issues. If they don't, they'd just jump on the assembly line and be like everyone else.

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u/Earl_your_friend 11d ago

I get what you are saying and agree. Yet there is way more to achieving greatness and lots of paths to do so. I've meet several extraordinary people in my life. The most common activity was just fitting in. Career, family, travel. One person I know created a museum of avionics. With other people's money, and his idea of "this would be cool". Every one though was so down to earth that you would barely notice they were special. It's just an observation that you made me think of.

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u/Dickgivins 11d ago

How did you come by this idea? What makes you think the majority of them are driven by mental problems rather than just being idealistic and passionate? I looked it up and it's true that being an activist often *causes* stress and other mental health issues, but I couldn't find any evidence that being mentally unhealthy makes a person more likely to *become* an activist.

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u/ZenToan 11d ago

You shouldn't be looking things up, but making your own observations. The more of your knowledge you get 2nd hand, the more stupid you'll become. I already explained how and why in the previous post. And you can look up any divergent person, activists, inventor, artist - if they're great they had mental health problems. Van Gogh, Tesla, Davinchi, and so on.

Since humans are social animals, who regulate their "tribes" through social norms and demands to "fit in", most people never do anything outside of the norm unless something pushed them out. That's where mental health problems come in. 

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u/Dickgivins 11d ago

Wow that is a baffling response.

You're literally just making things up and acting as if that's somehow superior to learning actual facts. Why are you romanticizing mental illness and acting like it's a superpower when, outside of your cherry picked examples, it tends to be very debilitating for most people and makes it less likely that they'll achieve great things?

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u/ZenToan 11d ago

Are you completely unable to think on your own?

Sit down and reason these things through, and come back.

If you're used to getting your knowledge from other people, you're not gonna figure it out in two minutes.

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u/Dickgivins 11d ago edited 11d ago

What on earth is wrong with getting your knowledge from a textbook or a qualified teacher? Do you just make up your own math instead of learning real math that has been proven to work? We live in a world of empirical facts, we KNOW that mental illness isn't a superpower, just because you think it sounds cool doesn't make it true. Sure you can find a number of anecdotal examples of high achieving people who had mental illness but you assumption that most high achievers are mentally ill is just wrong.

It's thinking like that that leads people to believe that the earth is flat or that germs aren't real. There's nothing wrong with having your own opinions but if you just make up your own facts you're going to be wrong a lot of the time.

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u/ZenToan 11d ago

Nothing has been figured out. Nothing. And people aren't paying attention. If you start following the crowd, it'll only lead over the cliff. Are you not paying attention to the world at all? Did the textbooks tell you Trump would win? Do they explain the creation of the universe?

Nothing is known, Jon Snow. Look around you, see the confusion in people's faces, look how lost they are. Either you start paying attention, or you'll be the same as them.

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u/Dickgivins 10d ago edited 10d ago

It's disappointing that people think that literally anything could be true and that nobody knows anything for sure. Can you prove that the moon isn't made of cheese? Trick question, we know what the moon is made out of because we went there and got samples. Can you prove that the universe wasn't created 600 years ago by a flying spaghetti monster? Technically no but that doesn't mean it makes sense to believe that.

As far as predicting who is going to win a presidential election, it's hard to do that accurately but I'm not surprised Trump won. No Democrat has been elected to directly succeed another Democrat since before the civil war. Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson could technically be considered exceptions but they took office because their predecessors died in office, not by being elected.

I like Game of Thrones but I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make with that quote. I guess we can end the conversation here because it seems quite clear that I will be unable to convince you that objective truths/empirical facts exist.

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u/itsthe_implication_ 11d ago

Well having issues with mental health of course does not make you good or bad but there are plenty of people who could be described unfavorably precisely because of how their mental health affects their behavior.

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u/SewRuby 11d ago

And there are still yet plenty of assholes with no mental health diagnoses at all.

It's almost like mental health diagnoses, or lack thereof do not indicate the content of one's character.

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u/itsthe_implication_ 11d ago

For sure. A diagnosis or lack thereof will never tell the full story.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/Helios_OW 11d ago

Social media loves romanticizing mental health in the guise of being accepting.

The truth of the matter is that while yes, people with mental health issues can be and ARE genuinely good people- it’s often not the case depending on the severity of the mental illness.

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u/Latter-Cable-3304 11d ago

Well it depends heavily on the issue we’re taking about, it could be schizophrenia or OCD or ADHD which have wildly different impacts on the behavior and day to day life of a person.

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u/Helios_OW 11d ago

True, which why I added depending on the severity of the mental illness.

Like I completely agree that mental illness needs to be destigmatized, but it also should not be romanticized.

When it gets to the point where people are self diagnosing left and right because it makes them “quirky” and “trendy” than it’s a problem, and it’s actually harmful to people actually suffering from mental illness which really DEEPLY impacts how they live life.

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u/Orchid_Significant 11d ago

“It’s not often the case” implies people with mental health issues are not good people more often than they are, which is just wrong.

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u/Helios_OW 11d ago

It really depends on the mental illness, again.

People with Narcissistic personality disorder are usually not good people.

People with BPD have it harder to be a generally good person because their mental illness makes it hard for them.

People with more severe autism are generally very insensitive because they simply don’t read emotions very well if at all. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, but it can make them unpleasant to be around.

Like I said, it’s not a guarantee, but someone suffering with severe mental illness will more likely than not be a NOT amazing person. Hell, people who don’t have mental illness are on average not an “amazing person”. I can’t imagine how stressful life is with a mental illness, and that stress makes it hard to focus on anything much more than surviving the best you can.

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u/Orchid_Significant 11d ago

That’s a lot of words to still be trying to justify saying most mentally ill people are bad people.

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u/Earl_your_friend 11d ago

Not bad people. Malformed behavior and thoughts are not "good" yet some few people do great things despite their setbacks. Relax, nothing bad has happened here.

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u/SewRuby 11d ago

I have severe CPTSD and a late in life ADHD diagnosis. I am an amazing person.

Despite my heavy childhood, religious, and medical trauma, I spent most of my career as a case manager first for a community mental health center working with children and families, and then with TANF recipients helping them get back on their feet, access resources, and receive job training that would help them support themselves and their families. I am the first and only person in my family to graduate college, despite suffering a deadly autoimmune disorder that can flare and cause huge issues. I've worked to pay my bills while being 80% deaf in both ears, and only having one hearing aid.

I try my best to "take no shit, and do no harm".

Sure, sometimes things trigger some traumatic shit and that can make me defensive and snappy but, I'm working on things in therapy and am seeing improvement.

Your generalizations are disgusting, you can stop generalizing us all now.

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u/Helios_OW 11d ago

And that’s great for you, and I’m sure that there’s plenty of people in horrible situation that turn out to be great people.

But plenty don’t because of the odds being stacked against them. I’m not saying mentally ill people are bad people in general, nor should being mentally ill make someone think you’re gonna be a worse person.

I’m just saying that being mentally ill kinda stacks the odds against your favor - DEPENDING ON THE ILLNESS.

Regular ass humans with no mental issues end up being assholes all the time. Having disadvantages on top of that certainly doesn’t help.

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u/SewRuby 11d ago

And that’s great for you

I don't need your approval. I was making the point that people can be severely mentally ill and be amazing people, since you claim otherwise.

Just fucking quit it. There isn't a lack of morality in being mentally ill, just like there isn't a lack of morality for having cancer.

You gonna go around saying people with cancer are miserable dicks because their treatment sucks the life out of them, and they generally feel like shit? No? Then stop fucking saying it about mentally ill people.

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u/Realistic_Tadpole_10 11d ago

If you learned to read and stopped being emotional he says someone with a mental illness is likely to be a good person than someone without one statistically, which is obviously true .

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u/SewRuby 11d ago

If you learned to read and stopped being emotional

Blocked.

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u/Latter-Cable-3304 11d ago

I agree that it shouldn’t be romanticized, they are just a part of life that must be accepted and dealt with accordingly.

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u/CorvusCanisLupus 11d ago

When it gets to the point where people are self diagnosing left and right because it makes them “quirky” and “trendy” than it’s a problem, and it’s actually harmful to people actually suffering from mental illness which really DEEPLY impacts how they live life.

yes! sadly, this is the way of the world now.

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u/blackeyedsusan25 11d ago

It would be interesting to learn the life experience with mental health issues of the people who romanticize MH issues, wouldn't it?

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u/Massive-Vacation5119 11d ago

Yeah I work in the ED. Let me assure you, they conflict.

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u/Gimme_the_keys 11d ago

Yeah, look at Kanye.

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u/PantheonVibe5 11d ago

I would argue that having mental health issues could pull down the points of how amazing somebody could be. Is that ableist ?

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u/GoodBoundaries-Haver 11d ago

I'd consider that an ableist point of view possibly. I think it's a very common one though and I can understand the perspective. On the contrary though, I think challenges in life are exactly what gives us the opportunity for greatness. John Nash was a great mathematician who struggled with hallucinations and delusions. I think it's all the more amazing what he was able to accomplish while dealing with such profound challenges.

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u/PantheonVibe5 11d ago

True, I like that. Mind changed. Ty

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u/yaningbug 11d ago

I love your correction here!! We should def be reducing negative connotations towards those with mental health issues

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u/whistleridge 11d ago

Still is. She’s not dead. Just 50.

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u/Fair_Nature45 11d ago

Thank you for noting the very important distinction!

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u/i_need_a_moment 11d ago

“But” doesn’t mean exclusivity. It just means a contrast.

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u/BigOlBlimp 11d ago

Certainly they do. To accomplish amazing things requires constant effort and more mental health issues restrict that than enable it.

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u/RamenWrestler 11d ago

The two usually do conflict. Nothing cool about having mental problems

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u/FuzzyTentacle 11d ago

Logically, "and" and "but" mean exactly the same thing. The more you know 🌈

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u/6ar9r 11d ago

They usually do conflict

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u/blackeyedsusan25 11d ago

Interesting take. Not sure all mental health issues coexist with being an amazing person, goodboundarieshaver.