We’ve all been there: sitting in the middle of Ackerman, not paying attention to yet another introductory speaker. Every year, we all sit and listen as someone from CAPS, someone from RISE and someone from every other acronym on campus tells us about our on-campus resources.
And yet, we have also all been here: sitting in class with so many other things going on in life that affect our mental health to the extreme where we are fighting back tears and holding in everything to keep ourselves from breaking down. I know that I have wanted to get up and leave: a lecture, a discussion, a presentation. However, I know that even as UCLA presents us all with our options, it is not like they take us all too seriously. Taking a mental health day isn’t like taking a sick day for the flu. You might still be wrapped up in bed, but the connotations of being mentally “unwell” negatively reflect on you, while taking a sick day for a stomach bug is much more socially acceptable.
There’s a question here, too, though: if we cannot perform our work the way it is meant to be done, is it still beneficial for us to be there? If we all took mental health more seriously, we would see that mental health days can be beneficial for the people taking them as well as those around them.
Needing a mental health day is just as common, if not more common, than needing a sick day for a cough or the flu. However, as a society and as a community here at UCLA, we need to take these kinds of sick days more seriously. It should not be shameful to need a few days to recuperate after a particularly mentally taxing situation. We have such a supportive community when it comes to academics and helping each other study, but we struggle to bring that same sense of community to more personal, vulnerable situations.
Balancing our mental health with our studies should not be such a struggle. It should not feel like we have to choose between pushing through to study to get a good grade and feeling mentally well. UCLA provides so many resources, but I know that as a community, even with the annual presentations we sit through, we do not all know about them. There are seniors here on campus who have no idea where CAPS is located. There are seniors here who can not remember what RISE does. This is the thought process we have to change.
Mental illness is a big issue not only here at UCLA but across the US in general. It is an issue that is not going anywhere. So, we need to take matters into our own hands to help not only people with mental illnesses, but also those who just need the occasional day off to get back to feeling 100%. We can start by accepting those around us. We all have busy, hectic lives and sometimes we need to take a day off. Understanding mental health and its role at UCLA will better prepare us to be well-rounded, whole people who bring the best of themselves to school and work everyday. Mental health days are just as important as sick days and should be treated as such.