I am sure you are wondering what the title of this blog means.

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Around this time is when I take a few moments to look back on the mental health blogs that I have written. I mean, I feel like each blog I have ever written has something to do with the topic, whether it’s a form of self-care or everyday wellness, but the ones that I intended to share for the sole purpose of talking about mental health were the ones I went back to. And honestly, reading some of them made me pretty emotional. It’s weird to think about those times in my life, when I sat down and wrote that blog. Thinking about the type of person I was at that time, who I surrounded myself with, and my mental state. Sometimes it feels like that was in a different universe. Isn’t that odd? What it feels like looking back in the past. “How could I have possibly been that person?”; I think this to myself constantly.

growth

That’s all I gotta say. GROWTH. That is the clear definition. Someone we once were (or who we still technically are), has grown in a way that highlights maturity, depth, and clarity. If you feel like that was a lifetime away or a different world, then imagine how much growth you have gone through without realizing it. Because in reality, these times were not long ago. We have just experienced a lot in that short period of time. And whether or not we realize it, we continue to change every second of every day.

I bring this up because I feel like mental health has grown. In a way that the awareness for it is pushed more to the surface. That it’s being brought up in more conversations, reaching more people and a larger audience. It’s not to say that we are anywhere near close to an end point. This is something that should always be growing. The idea of talking about it. We need to have more comfort in our world, so everyone can freely speak about what is rather more internalized. And I am not saying to dump all of our problems on other people, but to be able to freely open up when we are struggling. It is a lesson that should be within all of us to learn how to support each other, in a healthy way that sustains our boundaries while giving them what they need.

Mental Health Awareness and the conversation is a reciprocal thing. A two-way street. We can talk about how we struggle, but it is important to remember that the human on the receiving end is supporting but also able to speak as well, with you back in a supportive place. We are not to discard the emotions of others, but if we lean on someone a little more sometimes, the least we can do is be there for them to lean on too.

The blogs I have been looking back on are reminding me of anxiety. This, along with stress, is something I deal with all day, everyday, for as long as I can remember. I try to stay consistent with myself; and by that I mean my behaviour. What is externalized is how I truly feel. It’s something called self-monitoring. Most of the time, how I behave is what I am feeling internally while still being aware of what is around me.

However, my anxiety is something I always struggle with and it is consistently internalized for me. It is something running laps in my brain and that is something hard to talk about and to put on paper.

Mental health is serious. It should be taken seriously and the conversation is something to be absorbed, not pushed aside. If your goal is to learn something new everyday, I would add in learning more about our world and mental health. Because as much as we have put in the effort to really attempt to “solve” this problem, there still exists a crisis in the world. Although the pandemic heightened this crisis, it was ongoing long before.

Mental Health Awareness Month is important for us to reflect and remind ourselves about how we are doing, how those around us are doing, and what we can do to continue this support.

I encourage you to take time here and there to check-in with yourself. Ask yourself, or write down how you are really feeling, and what you need to support you. And also check-in with your friends and family. I can’t stress this enough but behind every closed door, someone is fighting a battle. Our biggest competitors are truly ourselves and what we face internally everyday is something that I can never truly understand. No one can. But we can continue to show that we care. That we want to learn, even if it takes us the rest of time.

We are all amazing humans, and we deserve all of the love that this world has to offer.

If you are struggling, remember that you are not alone.

We are just as important as every single person around us, so never ever think that you don’t deserve anything less.

 

STAY KIND:)

with love

grace <3