I wasn't planning to start this blog off with a serious post, but it is Mental Health Awareness week and if this last year has taught us anything, it's that discussing our health should never be put on the back burner.
Before I start, this has all come from my personal experience. I'm not an expert in mental health, but I have had my struggles and I do believe in breaking the stigma around this type of discussion.
These selfies were taken just two days apart, which could easily show how our mental health can massively change day to day - for me, it often does. But the thing about these pictures is, I felt exactly the same way inside when I took them.
This week has been a heavy one for me, and while I won't go into the reasons why, I thought it was worth mentioning because we can't always see quite how much a person is carrying.
We mostly only see what's on the surface. There might be smiles, there might be make up and smart clothes, there might even be laughter. But those things don't always equal the absence of pain.
The person who snapped over something we might see as trivial may not be angry about that specific thing; maybe it was simply the last straw for them. Or perhaps it meant more to them it would to another.
The person with their camera off on Zoom isn't necessarily being impolite. It could be technical difficulties, or maybe they just don't feel they can face people today.
There might be someone at work who doesn't appear engaged, and it might well be that they're not. They could have other things taking up space in their mind, making concentration on anything else virtually impossible.
The friend who hasn't replied to your WhatsApp message may not be ignoring you. They might have used up all their effort that day on simply surviving. Maybe they feel too overwhelmed to reply right now (yours might not be the only text in their inbox) and need a little space from their phone.
The point I'm making is, there's often a whole lot going on under the surface. It's very easy to make assumptions (I'm definitely guilty of this) but we can try and look at situations like the above from all angles. I do think as a society we're getting better at this, particularly after the year we've just had!
But on that note, it is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of "going back to normal" that we don't always consider that some people don't want to. Though I'm starting to feel more comfortable and have made plans I'm looking forward to, my experience of lockdown restrictions lifting has been a very anxious one. We've been in our houses for a year now and going out and socialising for me is such a daunting prospect. It is honestly like I've forgotten how to act around people in real life. I completely understand that being around people is a massive benefit for mental health, but it's so important that we all go at our own pace. I've heard a lot of "now that we can...we should do X" and it's that word "should" that puts the pressure on. It's as though there's an unwritten law that says we need to carry on doing whatever we were doing before the world paused. For some of us, that is terrifying.
The pandemic and lockdown has affected all of us so differently. Check in on your loved ones, friends and colleagues. Say no if you need to. Start off small. Ask your friends if they would be comfortable attending an event or meeting up in a group again before making plans. More importantly, respect everyone's decisions, and please remember that you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with - your mental health and wellbeing should always come first.
To round off this post I just wanted to share some helpful links around the subjects I've discussed. Remember that help is always available, and you are never alone, no matter what you're feeling.
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