– OCTOBER 10 –
– What is Mental Health?
WHO’s (World Health Organization) has the following article named : Mental Health : Strengthening our Response as over view of mental health. I hope all reading this article will also take time to visit the above article to gain and spread awareness.
However, I am not going to put in copied texts from 1000’s other articles and rather give my own views on the topic. So kindly don’t hesitate in correcting me if you find something objectionable and I would love to hear your ideas, experiences and stories too.
To me, mental health is wanting to live. Genuinely wanting to exist, having the energy to live, love and laugh. Knowing what is in our control and what is beyond our control. The things which we averse, changing the one’s we can and accepting what we can’t change. All of us have obstacles in life, whether overtly visible or battles with own consciousness. Having problems doesn’t necessarily mean a unhealthy mind, but rather when that problem starts to feel like a chain, suffocating us, exhausting us to a point when it becomes a hinderance in everyday life : relationships, work, eating, sleeping and living. Mental Health is learning how to continue to live , despite any curve balls life throws at us. As you will read in the WHO article above, mental health is more than absence of mental disorders , varying for everyone of us.
Do not confuse it with toxic positivity though. It does not mean to believe that everything is okay when it’s not. It’s not that happiness is the only emotion you feel. It is rather the ability and acceptance that life is not a straight line or smooth curve. It has it’s ups and downs and sharp ends. It’s feeling all emotions of sadness, grief, anger ,even jealousy and disappointment. It is not letting your feelings control you and your life without your consent. Good mental health is moving with these rough and imperfect shapes of life, without loosing ourselves or hating our life for having a structure different from what we imagined.
– What are mental disorders?
WHO : Mental Disorders
Any mental disorder ever does not mean that you are weak or want to trouble others. A lot of mental disorders have genetics involved and others include life situations, incidents, social situations, and even neurological factors. It is not in our control and no one’s choice to be ill. As if suffering and living an uncomfortable life is not bad enough, stigma around the topic keeps people from receiving the help they deserve and need. Every human deserves a healthy life, be it physically, mentally or emotionally. With COVID, I witnessed the increase in awareness for importance of mental health but sadly so did the number of people suffering from disorders.
– How to help YOURSELF
Before helping others I would love for all of us to check in with ourselves. One can’t pour with an empty cup.
Regarding the last image I really want to discuss that personally my self talk had a huge impact on my mental health. At a point I used to loathe myself,called myself lazy-stupid-dumb-bich and what not. Considered myself the worst person I ever met and treated as such. After wrecking my self esteem and belief, I finally realized that I hurt myself more than any external factor did. I was a major villain in my own story or as we (me and Sakshi) call it, the bitchy inner voice a.k.a bitch voice was. It treated me horribly. Gave me so much criticism , without any evidence ! (Honestly I also considered positive self talk a hoax advice at first) . Then I after tired of trying all sorts of music and art and well binging , gave switching up self communication a try and oh boy! I am happy now and so so much more confident than I have ever been in life. I started talking to myself as I would to my best friend. I was considerate of everything I told myself and filtered out the sharp words.
Really, really I would suggest to start noticing how you talk to yourselves. We all do have sort of a child inside us, afraid of pain and harsh treatment. Kindness is what it needs and you are the one who can protect, nurture and make it feel safe. So next time do not forget to love that kid and shoo away the bitch voice.
Ways in which I try to manage my mental health
- Music
- Perfume : there is this fix perfume which acts as a reminder to calm down. Like I have conditioned myself to calm down on smelling that particular smell. I spray the perfume and my body remembers to relax
- Box breathing
- Walking
- Hydration
- Positive self talk
- This year’s resolution sorta but totally worth it and had a huge positive impact: BULLET JOURNALING . It is personalised and sort of my own ways and set ups like gratitude , brain dump, day summary or habit tracking. It has photo gallery I print and paste and really does help me remember the positives which are easily erased by negatives.
- Actively searching for more ways to better health which makes me feel connected and hence not lonely in struggles.
How To Help Others?
At times we find a lot of stuff about what to do and say but I think its important to know what not to do too. Here are some useful pins I found, content is lesson this post about this topic, will try to add in future posts. Also would want to give you as less or no misleading content and these seem harmless and rather useful from personal feelings.
I just want to remind everyone again today that mental health is not some fancy first world issue. It concerns a human life and is important. Mental illness doesn’t discriminate but the resources available for now are meager. Hence this year’s theme seems apt to me : MAKE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL – BEING FOR ALL A GLOBAL PRIORITY. I hope all of us could reach out to people be it loved ones or professional health and indeed make our mental health and hence ourselves our priority. And last remember-
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The Little Dreamland 