Mental/Physical Health

 

                                                          Mental/Physical Health

        I learned its okay not to be "okay". I learned to love myself. I learned to ask for help.

    When we were younger we just wrote it off as being sad or having a bad day when in reality it may have been something more substantial. I remember once when I was middle school I wrote a poem that spoke about me being depressed and my teacher turned it into the counselor. Well once they spoke with my parents needless to say I had to lie of course because what was there to actually be "depressed" about when we are that young. I knew it would always be hard for my parents to understand the magnitude of sadness, so I buried it deep. What I have learned about mental health through other individuals is that it is long standing. That same pain and emptiness that started out minor grew into something even bigger throughout the years.  Instead of reaching out to someone they let it linger inside and tried to manage it as much as they could.  But there would always be a piece that was missing or that no one would ever understand. As we let it build inside of us we often destroy the things on the path in front of us, unintentionally. Mental health in terms of the male aspect I often find it to be rather  difficult. As a society we already make it hard enough for men to expression their true feelings, so adding on this other layer of having to open up about the deepest, darkest, emptiness is ten times harder to do. This ultimately weighs heavy on the male community. I feel as though if men are able to feel as though they have a safe space to expression themselves we can start having these conversations as whole about what mental illness is and how we can be of support to the men in our life. As it pertains to women I feel as though we deal with more physical health because of this idea of having to upkeep this image of what society wants us to believe is "natural". Often times I look past social media and question What am I missing? What can I do to look more like her? Its the doubts within ourselves that we as women struggle with that affects our health and our mental well being. We have to remember to love on ourselves, wholeheartedly. We have to surround ourselves with love and tell ourselves its okay to not be "okay" all of the time.That we are still beautiful despite the images portrayed against us to make us feel like we are less.  Life is not perfect and you are going to fall, but reaching out for help has never been a bad thing. If you are feeling as though you losing within yourself reach out to your friends, family, resources. There will never be anything to be ashamed of, you are human. Nine times our of ten your peer is probably battling something within themselves as well. Just remember that you are loved and you are NOT alone. 

Resources: Mentalhealth.gov 

Much Love,

Thi