The topic of mental health has come up quite a bit over the past couple of weeks – possibly also a follow on form my piece about post natal depression. I work within this field (not in a clinical role) and I count myself extremely lucky that I haven’t suffered from bouts of depression to the extent that I required help (this is of course apart from post natal depression). As a general view, from my point anyway, we all, to some extent can have feelings of being anxious, of being down and unhappy. However what may seem a slight or small thing for one may be a major catastrophe for someone else. There is no “one” right way as we may all need something completely different to help tackle any issues. My post natal depression was mine alone, and while millions of women go through it – it is not a case of who has suffered more or not – everyone is different and deals with these things in their own way. This then goes for mental health as a whole, again this is only my opinion, and the way I see things and many may disagree – (but isn’t that the point!! – that we all have our own ideas and opinions). What a horrendous world we would live in if we all felt and acted the same. The differences are what makes us all individuals – whether that is good or bad. We can all disagree about our beliefs, how we live our lives – to be honest we can all disagree on about anything and everything, but it would be nice to think we could all do it in a respectful and understanding way ( a lot easier to say than do!!!).
Anyway back to mental health!! – thankfully there is more being done – there is more recognition and understanding nowadays, but that doesn’t mean we are there yet – there is still so much more work to do. Folk are beginning to be more open about their feelings – especially men – something that would rarely happen before, and that can only be a good thing as men were traditionally brought up to show they are “hard” and don’t show feelings as it is seen as a “weakness”. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth. But there are also many contradictions in mental health for a variety of reasons ranging from belief and acceptance to ignorance, stigma and discrimination and how folk with mental illnesses are perceived – again a willingness to talk, discuss and try and understand (although again there may be the possibility of disagreement).
So much emphasis is put on physical health, whether that be the food that we eat, exercising more, drinking less alcohol, stopping smoking etc. However the health of your mental state is just as important. Personally I feel the two compliment each other – if you feel good mentally it can go a long way to helping you physically (obviously there is the exceptions to the rule – where your physical health is something that cannot be changed…..but hopefully you get what I mean!!) I know for me going to the gym is a great way to forget what else is going on in the world or around me and just focus on that time of exercise (even when sometimes it is hard work and I wonder what I’m doing there!!!!!) but once completed, I feel like I have accomplished something and the endorphins, or the “happy hormone” kicks in which makes me feel good. This is only one of the outlets for me and I know I am lucky to have that and my family as well as other positives in my life, (believe it or not also writing a blog is an outlet!!) but not everyone has these things. For some there is no one around to support or care and no amount of exercise or self wellbeing is going to make it better. I don’t have the answers, I can only speak for myself and what works for me, however that doesn’t mean I don’t acknowledge what goes on around me.
If you are lucky enough to have someone in your life who you trust – if you have worries – please talk – sometimes it is just having that friendly ear than be the start of the help
60's fit and not ready to quit 