Mental health is often a topic that people shy away from. It is highly stigmatized; society thinks that mental health is a joke, something that we don’t need to take seriously. However, I am a huge advocate for mental health. I think that it’s something we, as a society, should be talking about, so I will start by talking about my own.
Honestly, my mental health is messy. It’s unpredictable and oftentimes, I don’t understand it. Sometimes, everything can be so, so great, but other times, things can get really bad, which is okay. I preach almost daily that “it’s okay to not be okay,” and I really try to follow my own advice when saying that.
Every day I wake up and tell myself, “Today is going to be a good day,” and sometimes by the end, it was. On the days that it was NOT a good day, I tend to be really hard on myself. I think things that everyone does, like “Why me?” and “What did I do to deserve this?” The truth is, it doesn’t just happen to me, and I don’t exactly “deserve” it. Sometimes things fall into my lap that I have no control over, and sometimes I don’t cope with those things very well. I don’t know about you, but I am an overthinker to my core. I will always ask those questions that most people probably wouldn’t think of, and typically they’re questions that can’t or won’t be answered. I think and I think… and I think, typically until I’m 99% sure that my brain is going to fall right out of my head. I think until I run out of thoughts, which happens more often than you might think. Because I’m an overthinker, on the bad days, I tend to think about the things that make me the saddest. I listen to sad music and think sad thoughts and really become the embodiment of sadness, which might not be my best, but I work with what I have when I have it.
Although everything isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, sometimes it is. Sometimes, life is beautiful and can feel like one big blessing. Like, when I sing in the shower or my favorite T.V. shows come out with a new season, life feels good. On days when the sun is shining and I get to have my favorite meal, life feels good. There are all kinds of things to be grateful for in life, like just the simple fact that we get to be alive in the first place. As a society, I think we take living for granted. We wake up every day, and maybe we have bad days, but there are so many things to be happy about, like the fact that as adults, we can have ice cream for breakfast. On the good days, I do things like color in my coloring books, popping open a good book (typically a cheesy romance…), or listening to music that makes me feel like I can take on the world. It’s days like this that truly keep me going.
Life is all kinds of things. It’s messy, it’s hard, but it’s also so beautiful and so amazing. And just so you know, you NEVER have to go through life alone. There are so many amazing resources, like counseling centers or crisis hotlines that will always be there when you need a helping hand. It’s okay to not be okay, and I hope that each and every one of you readers knows that.