Time to Talk

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By Lauren

There has been lots in the news and on social media recently surrounding mental health. I think it is incredibly important and very positive. We’re encouraging people to talk about their mental health and what it can mean for people on a daily basis.

Helping each other

It also gives me the confidence to continue with my blog, knowing I am helping others as well as myself to be open about their health. And that means I am achieving what I set out to do. To feel like I am achieving is so positive for me. It makes me feel that I am worthy and not totally useless and that there is some point to me being here.

Some things we struggle with on a daily basis are things other people might do without even thinking about. Sometimes people who don’t suffer don’t understand why we can’t stop crying, panicking, overreacting. Why we’re unable to leave the house, isolating ourselves.

I am pretty sure nobody understands anything as well as the person who is going through that time. It’s just unfortunate that when it comes to other parts of our lives we are willing to open up and help others understand, but when it comes to mental health all communication breaks down. This is something we can change though, if we support each other and show that it’s OK not to be OK then we can break the stigma. It won’t happen quickly but if we all do our bit we will get closer to making everybody feel comfortable every day.

Changing our thinking

We all have insecurities about ourselves and we deal with them in different ways. I know for sure that I’m not happy with myself at the moment. But I am trying to find a positive in everything rather than always focusing on the negatives of myself and the situation. This is really difficult for me because at the moment I always focus on the bad. But even if you can change your feelings towards a couple of elements of your situation, I promise you will feel better!

I have found that rather than just thinking about what I’m unhappy with I try to think about a change I can make, to be able to think positively about whatever it is. This really helps me.

I have found exercise is helpful too, science tells us it’s good for our brains. It also encourages us to feel better about the way we physically look. I am trying to spend as much of my time as I can doing things I want to do. This may be reading, doing crafts, seeing friends and family, watching my favourite TV programmes or just relaxing at home.

It is OK to take care of yourself and step back every once in a while. We get caught up in life and sometimes need to remember what is really important to us. Obviously there are still things we have to do. But I think it would be really beneficial to everyone if we made a conscious effort to do things for ourselves sometimes. It’s not being selfish, it’s self-care and would help us all to feel more positive about dealing with the more difficult things in our lives.

Every day is a new chance to feel well!

Reproduced with permission, originally posted on laurenandmentalhealth