Changing the Narrative Around Mental Health
The narrative around mental health needs to change. However, mental health is an enigma of a subject to speak about and often leaves people clueless on how to address it. Now, I have three options. I could ignore my mental health, pretend that mental health does not exist, or find a way to proactively speak about my mental health. What is stopping me from talking about my mental health? I believe that it is my own stigma towards mental health that prevents me from speaking about it often. My parents never really spoke about how they felt in front of me, and always told me not to “get too emotional for nothing” often. I never really thought much about my mental health, and pretty much ignored it until high school.
At the beginning of my freshman year my grandmother, who was one of my closest relatives, passed away. I was devastated and didn’t know how to emotionally react to this change. I thought that keeping my feelings to myself was the best way to cope. As a result, I was easily irritable and angry at that time, and I became socially closed off from my classmates. At this time I also learned that two friends of mine were suffering through a mental health crisis as well. They both had also experienced traumatic hardships at the beginning of freshman year and were taking drastic measures to cope with their grief. I tried my best to help them, but I never knew what to say to make them feel better. My friends reached out to me as well, but never quite knew how to talk about mental health either. This sparked my interest in speaking about mental health with my friends and family and trying to find ways to remain in good mental health.
The first step was starting a conversation about mental health. One day at a family dinner I asked my parents if they had ever felt grief and how they dealt with it. This began a long conversation on the emotions we were feeling and how to address them. Just speaking about mental health was such a calming experience. I now knew that I was not alone in my feelings and had love and support to guide me. My mother suggested doing things that I love to maintain my mental health. I think mental health doesn’t just affect the brain but the body as well. One way that I try to maintain my mental health is by taking time out of my day to exercise, more specifically running. I find that exercising, whether at a gym, on a track, or at home helps me clear my head and bring a positive attitude to the rest of my day. It may be a small gesture, but it makes a world of difference in my mental health over time. I started speaking about mental health with my friends and being there to support them whenever they are in need. Doing things that make me and those I love happy has improved both my mental and physical health. It may not be easy, but changing the narrative around mental health can start right now. Try talking to a trusted friend about the state of mental health today. Try doing something that makes you happy. Break the silence, and start changing the narrative today!
