Many people are currently struggling with mental health due to the long, hard, and painful year we just had. The last year was filled with political turmoil, a global pandemic, and too many natural disasters that have altered everyone’s lives in one way or another. With the way we used to live our lives vanishing without a day’s notice, people everywhere are realizing that they cannot sustain a healthy mental state on their own anymore.
And that is okay. It is okay to feel sad. It is okay to feel angry. It is okay to feel confused. What is not okay is neglecting the fact that it is too much to handle by yourself, living each day with your head barely above the water.
Self-care does not always have to be about caring for your tangible body, such as doing face masks, staying active, and being healthy. Self-care can be practiced for your mind, and it is arguably more important than the mainstream “beauty” self-care. Therapy, medication, or even just talking about your feelings to friends or family may be exactly the type of “self-care” you’ve been missing over the past year because you didn’t think it mattered.
I will forever be the biggest advocate of caring for your mind. In my freshman year of high school, I was a very anxious person. I never left the house, buried myself in homework, and did not make many friends. I always got “stomachaches” in school, often sending me home or to the emergency room thinking it was appendicitis. I decided that this wasn’t normal, and sought my mom out for advice. After deciding on therapy, my symptoms vanished within less than two sessions. Simply just talking about the things that made me nervous with someone who knew how to cope properly changed my outlook on my life completely.
And then come late August 2020. After nearly 6 months of being isolated from my friends and most of my family, I never left my room, didn’t eat much, and was very irritable. After constantly dismissing the signs of depression as just being tired (because I never slept – oh look, another symptom!), I decided I needed the help of my doctor. I knew therapy wasn’t right for this situation because I wasn’t “sad” about anything in particular; I just didn’t feel right. I was prescribed Lexapro, and my mood lightened almost within a day, which is not very typical (usually takes 1-2 weeks to see a decrease in symptoms).
Now, I am feeling the best I have in years. My irritability is (almost ;)) gone, I enjoy life more, and I am getting back into a normal routine. Without seeking out therapy and medication, I would be walking through life miserably, looking for self-care solely in cosmetics and retail therapy (which is still is totally needed from time to time!). Sometimes our bodies need a little more love than just tangible remedies. So listen to your body, and remember that mental health is also important to care for, especially in times like these.
