(Here)alth(For)od(You)

Mental Health.

More than appropriate topic to discuss given the current times.

Anybody that knows me at least a little bit, knows that mental health is something that I am very passionate about and always in limbo in regards to how to benefit the sector whether in a direct or indirect way.

For me, a person is created by their mind (hence the tattoo). It is the brain and the thoughts that create the person and those are what control our behaviours, how we speak, what we like, etc. Without our mind, who are we? Do we exist? The soul may live on, but what becomes of our identity?

The mind, the most important aspect of our bodies, besides our heart. Yet, majority of people never spend enough time creating, challenging, flexing their thinking. Growing the brain and mind. Making sure that it is being used and healthy. Even for people that are deemed ‘fully capable’ and are less susceptible to mental health issues still struggle on bad days. If the cream of the crop still experiences struggles at times then what about those who aren’t as lucky and don’t have the resources or knowledge to know what to do to acknowledge, prevent, or control their thoughts and feelings rationally?

As much as I love the mind, it can be a scary thing. Weather isn’t great, have a few things go wrong, all it takes sometimes is one negative thought for me to tunnel down this dark big hole that leads to nothing but more negativity and thoughts that are not beneficial to me. For example the other day the weather wasn’t all that good, I originally had a contract to work until the end of May that got cancelled because of people’s inability to travel now, and I started to think about winter coming. Doesn’t seem like the end of the world, but then my mind goes to.. ohh not great weather, locked inside, no job or income, not many friends in this time zone, in a country where I only know a handful of people and still trying to figure things out, and much more. Basically started questioning everything in my life and was asking myself what in the heck I was doing.

Luckily since I think a lot and have gained pretty good self awareness as to my thoughts and feelings, I realised that I was headed no where good and needed to change my thinking pretty quickly. Not going to lie, I still had a good hour and a half at least of a self pity party. Still undecided if I think self pity parties are good or not as part of me feels like they are a part of life and benefit you in some weird way as long as you come out of it?

Regardless, after I got over myself and decided that my thoughts needed to change quickly I started to change the perspective of the situation I was dealing with. Sometimes we can change the situation and that helps, but in this case the situation is out my control to an extent so I needed to change the way I was thinking about the situation.

Yes, the weather wasn’t great, but the forecast was showing nice, sunny days aheads so enjoy the indoors and write more, read, colour, paint, draw. I may not have a job now, but I have a few potential opportunities coming up and all I can do is continue to apply and network. Friends? Well I have all the friends in the world that I need because that I have are the greatest few and if I need them then they are there. Friends in a new country? I have a great group of friends and let’s be honest with myself, one group is all I need with my non-social self. New country? I want to be here, I want to explore, I’m really not ready to leave. Who else gets beautiful beaches and the city within 10 minutes of their house and vineyards an hour out no matter what direction you go?

As much as I would love to say it was that easy to change my thinking, the reality is that it is like anything else and you do have to work to keep your positive vibes flowing to get started. Darkness tries to creep in and you have to actively push it out. That’s why I say that you do have to constantly workout your mind so that you can gain control.

Take me out of it now and think of people that genuinely struggle with mental health whether it be anxiety, depression, bipolar, multiple personalities disorder, suicidal thoughts, schzophrenia, etc. Of course each of those have different levels of severity and each comes with its’ own struggles, but say you are a person that had never given much thought to the way you think or why you think the way you do. All of a sudden these thoughts and emotions come into play and there may be no other explanation for the person at the time other than them starting to identify with the feelings and thoughts because they don’t know where else they would come from.

Why would someone want to think that they are not being themselves? Do we not take pride in thinking we have control of ourselves so when something challenges that belief we may start to identify so that we feel like we still have some sense of control. If we don’t control ourselves then who does?

In a television series that I was watching the other day, a man went into a psychiatric hospital in Ohio and interviewed some of the patients that had been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Wow, mind blowing. These people often had killed someone, typically a family member or a stanger, but it was fascinating to see the way that they talked about their charge. Some say that they do not remember the incident at all, but they acknowledge that they did it, one said that he does not feel bad because it was not him, that he was off of his meds and not in the right mind, so he was not himself, one acknowledged what he had did but struggled to show any emotion that was related to the incident. It was very clear that these people needed some assistance to work out their thoughts and help them understand the severity of some actions and behaviours and their consequences.

The controversial part for me was the amount of medication that these individuals were on. Nearly all of the people that were being interviewed had hand tremors from the medications. I know that medication would be needed in these instances to a degree, but I wonder where the line should be drawn. Is it a case that the risk of taking them off the multiple medications is too great? But then how could the people ever really understand everything if they are taking medications that could be blocking certain chemicals that typically get released to the brain? I don’t know, I just feel like perhaps there could be some improvement or some trials there.

I could go on and on, but I guess what I am trying to say is that it is natural to struggle time to time. Some will struggle more than others. Struggles will look different for everyone. The way people cope with struggle also differs. One thing we can do for ourselves during these struggles is to identify them as early as possible so that we can actively try to change the path we are heading on. If certain times of the year are difficult for you, plan, prepare, try to fill the time to keep your mind occupied on things that will benefit you.

For people who aren’t going through the struggle, reach out, support. Some people just want to be heard, some people may just want to talk. Mental health is something that people always struggle to talk about, but the more that we can talk with one another and discuss the difficult feelings that we all experience the more people will realise that they aren’t so different than one another. We all fight battles even if they show up differently.

Instead of ignoring those that seem down or if you find it difficult acknowledging people that struggle with mental health, imagine it as a physical injury since people tend to have more empathy with pain that can be seen. Imagine a bandage around their head or an ice pack. Picture something physical if it is easier for you because I can guarantee the person is feeling it the same way if not worse than a broken bone.

Take the opportunities that are given to you for what they are not what they could be or what could have been. Spend the time now on what is in front of you and what you can control. Focus on the things that you always wanted to do, but never had time to. Remember, all those days where you just wanted to sleep in? Well, now you may have the opportunity. Force yourself to do the things that you may not want to do, but you know that they get you up and going.

For me, it’s easy to fall into a lazy day early so I know that it is important to physically take my pjs off and get out of the house. Whether it is a walk or a run, it doesn’t matter, but I have to get the juices flowing and that’s what determines the productivity of my day.

Keep your head up, hold it high. You’re not alone. Reach out to your friends and family. If you are comfortable try to start those difficult conversations if you are feeling down because you will more than likely find that the other person experiences the same things or similar.

Of course, more than happy to chat with anyone and everyone! It doesn’t have to be about mental health, if you just need someone for the day, flick me a line, I got your back. It’s a crazy world out there so it’s better if we take it on together.

Stay true to you, we’re all a little crazy.

Much love to everyone xx