Last night, I made a specific decision to turn down a potentially great opportunity...for my sanity. From the outside perspective, it probably looks like a stupid decision. Kind of like how my decision to quit my journalism master's program at Georgetown probably looked to outsiders five years ago. Kind of like my decision to take a break from my undergraduate coursework for a few semesters...to work at Subway and live with my cousins...probably looked to outsiders. Kind of like quitting a job that drove me absolutely insane...when I didn't have any new jobs lined up...looked to outsiders (wait, I've done that twice). And sometimes, it's not just outsiders...or about outsiders at all. There's a really mean part of my subconscious, that is sometimes louder than other times, screaming, "YOU'RE SO WEAK. YOU CAN'T HANDLE ANYTHING. YOU'RE A LOSER." But I know in my heart of hearts that all these decisions were the right decisions for me. In hindsight, the past decisions I mentioned above, took me to where I needed to be...they were right for me. If I just stop and listen intently, I can hear the true me, the me that's in tune with God, the universe, and my own heart, and it drowns out the meanie in my mind that tells me I'm a loser.
I think so often, in regards to mental health, we feel "less-than"...as though it's not a worthy cause or an appropriate motive to make decisions. We call it "weakness" instead of calling it what it is, "mental-health maintenance." I've dealt with mental-health issues my whole life. I saw a school psychologists while my dad was dying. Post-death, I participated in school group counseling and a nonprofit child grief counseling center called The Dougy Center. In my pre-teen years I saw a counselor...and in my college years I saw a counselor. I've experimented with different anti-depressant medication...I've dealt with diagnosed forms of OCD/depression/anxiety for much of my life. And while I've currently got a decent grasp on my mental health with the appropriate amount of sleep, healthy eating, exercise, adult coloring, meditation, long walks, podcast listening, candle burning (and anything else that brings me happiness), it doesn't mean I don't still deal with it, and have to acknowledge it as a very real thing in my life. But the truth of the matter is, we ALL should be doing things that help us achieve pique mental health. And we shouldn't brush it under the rug as weakness. If someone is fit and physically healthy, does it make him/her need physical health maintenance any less than someone who might not be physically fit and/or healthy? No. Obviously, s/he is doing the maintenance that is required...which is why s/he's physically fit and healthy. We all need physical health and maintenance. For some of us, it might be a bit harder to maintain than others, for a variety of reasons. But we ALL need it. It's the same with mental health.
So... here's my plea, to you and to me, to be happy and content with who we are...and replace the notion of "weakness" with "mental-health maintenance." Y'all are worth it. Give yourself a break and tell the meanie you (and all of us have) in your head to back the hell off.
I think so often, in regards to mental health, we feel "less-than"...as though it's not a worthy cause or an appropriate motive to make decisions. We call it "weakness" instead of calling it what it is, "mental-health maintenance." I've dealt with mental-health issues my whole life. I saw a school psychologists while my dad was dying. Post-death, I participated in school group counseling and a nonprofit child grief counseling center called The Dougy Center. In my pre-teen years I saw a counselor...and in my college years I saw a counselor. I've experimented with different anti-depressant medication...I've dealt with diagnosed forms of OCD/depression/anxiety for much of my life. And while I've currently got a decent grasp on my mental health with the appropriate amount of sleep, healthy eating, exercise, adult coloring, meditation, long walks, podcast listening, candle burning (and anything else that brings me happiness), it doesn't mean I don't still deal with it, and have to acknowledge it as a very real thing in my life. But the truth of the matter is, we ALL should be doing things that help us achieve pique mental health. And we shouldn't brush it under the rug as weakness. If someone is fit and physically healthy, does it make him/her need physical health maintenance any less than someone who might not be physically fit and/or healthy? No. Obviously, s/he is doing the maintenance that is required...which is why s/he's physically fit and healthy. We all need physical health and maintenance. For some of us, it might be a bit harder to maintain than others, for a variety of reasons. But we ALL need it. It's the same with mental health.
So... here's my plea, to you and to me, to be happy and content with who we are...and replace the notion of "weakness" with "mental-health maintenance." Y'all are worth it. Give yourself a break and tell the meanie you (and all of us have) in your head to back the hell off.
