The what of mental wellness is often assumed to be synonymous with the how but this isn't true. When we begin to unpack what is it we are truly faced with when journeying to find what mental wellness means for us we are then faced with what might seem an impossible task, which is figuring out the how. How to take care of our mental and emotional health is something we are not taught to do. Instead we might have even been pushed into suppression of emotion as we were growing up. Constantly seeing this being modelled to us by our parents, caregivers and even our friends. Conformity was the order of the day and in order to fit in and be liked be it at school or later in life in the workplace we must comply with what is expected, play the part, put on a facade. This often leads to suppressing emotions and not being able to build mental resilience and mental strength in the long run.
It comes on gradually, you don't notice at first and it is only after years of suppression and we are in the thick of the struggle with life’s challenges that we feel the need to implode, provoked by the most insignificant of things.
Granted everything has it’s time and place and we do need to be functioning people who live and work in the world but we also need healthy ways and outlets for dealing with the overwhelm, adversities and uncertainties that life will inevitably bring our way.
We often look for the mammoth task when looking for ways to take care of our mental health. We think big lifestyle changes, overhauling and starting anew which can be daunting just thinking about it so we never start. Making this too big to conquer justifies why it’s never attainable. We burden ourselves with the endless checklists of things we can do and should do but we are never really ready to do. I’ll start tomorrow we say, Monday maybe, next week, next month, we convince ourselves that now is not the time.
However there is a way. Finding simplicity in taking care of your mental health is the answer and the key is consistency. Rather than the big unattainable task as you stand staring at it at the foot of the mountain paralysed, unable to move because you don't even know how to start, find simplicity. We do this by picking one realistic thing to incorporate into our daily life and staying consistent with it.
Be it a walk, be it being in the sun for 10 mins, breathing deeply, making more of an effect to connecting with loved ones. Whatever it is make the decision, choose one thing, commit to it and incorporate it into your life daily.
This is beautiful, and I relate to it 100%. Thanks for this article. It can become so easy when you are busy, to overlook or downplay the importance of taking care of your mind. Hopefully incorporating a few small realistic changes daily, is what will eventually lead to what feels like a healthy mental state. <3