Mental health has become less and less of a stigmatized topic over time, but that doesn’t mean it’s become any easier to talk about for some people. It can be very overwhelming to be diagnosed with a mental health condition, and even more so to try and figure out how to talk about that condition or live with it. Though it doesn’t have to be hard, overwhelming, or scary to. It can even be empowering, given the right knowledge and right attitude. So, let’s talk about how to build up your mental health knowledge and self care into some mental wealth!
Knowledge is one of the most powerful tools when living with a health condition, and mental health is no different. This extends to both knowing how to live with the given mental health condition, but also how to talk about it. Being able to know when to and how to share the knowledge of your mental health is a good way to help bring others into the fold of how to best help you. After all, if you were living with a condition that affected your lungs, you’d want to be able to tell people that you can’t move at a certain speed because of it – and then they could match your speed and choose activities that are better fit for you. Mental health conditions are no different, and being able to advocate for yourself by simply saying ‘my brain doesn’t work like that’ or ‘my mind has certain quirks to it’ can help. These conversations can be incredibly daunting, given how vulnerable we have to be when we have them.
Additionally, it’s important to understand that mental health can affect physical health and vice-versa. For example, if a pair of twins were both studied with the only difference between them being one was stressed and one wasn’t, the stressed twin would consistently get more sick than the mentally healthy one. Or if you believe that a pill you’ve taken will cure something going on with you physically, and you genuinely believe it, then that belief alone may alleviate the symptoms. Our minds have incredible power over our physical selves, and our physical selves have power over our minds in equal measure. Taking care of one is taking care of the other, and so to live your best life it’s important to take care of yourself mentally as well as physically. Just as varied as physical health is, and ways to maintain it, so is mental health; but, there are a few general tips. Treat yourself with kindness and compassion like you would show others, find something that truly relaxes you or removes stress and engage in it daily, advocate for yourself and your comforts, and make goals that are reasonable for where you are.
Though knowing what is going on, how it’s going on, and what to do with it might help there may be times that it all feels like a lot to manage. When all you can do is tread water; and that is okay as well as completely normal. Life, especially in this modern era, is hectic and beyond what most of our minds were ever made to comprehend – especially if said mind has a health condition. Thus, let’s talk a bit about how to tread that water. Simply accepting that you’re not in the best place at the moment is a good first step – after all, acknowledging something is wrong is sometimes the most important step to working on getting better. Then, it becomes doing what you can with what you have. If you find you’re struggling to remember to brush your teeth or find the motivation to, simply swishing mouthwash is better than doing nothing. Or if you find you can’t summon up the energy to shower, just brushing your hair and putting on deodorant can be a big step. A particularly useful resource for these sorts of tips would be strugglecare.com, a repository of information for getting through your worst days.
By, Jessica Seney, MHC intern