There is a direct link between the growing prison population and the lack of mental health resources. The only difference is that we can scare people into paying to build more prisons and keep “dangerous people” away from us. It’s much harder to convince people to invest in prevention through mental health treatment, even if that would be much more effective in protecting everyone.
I’m a firm believer that we don’t need any kind of special permission to talk about mental health and the stories of people dealing with mental health issues any day that we want to, but I also wanted to bring a couple of special days that are being set aside in Canada and the UK for the purpose.
I think this is something many of us would agree with, the people in our organizations have all been through trauma, some in more ways than others. Trying to simply go on as if nothing has happened is a disservice to the human beings in your organization, no matter what type of organization we are talking about. Taking some time to recognize what has happened and how we go forward from there is an important step. It sounds like this “Treasure Box” may help us all do exactly that.
Speaking, again, for myself, when I get frustrated with world events, work, or whatever might be irritating me beyond belief at the moment, a good bit of loud music can help me express that and just get it out of my system so that I can then continue on with my life. I find myself getting more and more irritable if I haven’t found a way to express the frustration that I may be feeling at any particular time until it eventually shows up in maybe ways I would rather it doesn’t. So, when I find myself getting more and more frustrated, out come the headphones, and a little punk rock, until I feel better.
And, really, there is a lot to be frustrated about in the world right now, let alone our individual lives. If some loud music helps me deal with that, so be it. So, let’s at least fill our lives with some music. It certainly can’t hurt.
What impact does music have on your own emotional well-being? Have you thought about the role it could play in self-care?
I’ve had people refer to me as someone who is surprisingly self-aware. I don’t really think of myself that way, but what I do know is that reading and writing about mental health topics, as well as my own experience in therapy, provides me with constant reminders about the importance of mental health, and how that information either resonates with me, or doesn’t, and why.
I don’t think our current culture really encourages that kind of behavior. We are encouraged to be busy, productive, constantly hustling and then showing it off on social media. Self-reflection? Ha! No time for that.
But there should be time for that. Without knowing ourselves, how can we even start to care for our own mental health?
I’ve talked about this a little bit, but maybe not in detail. When I was really struggling, I can’t necessarily say that someone starting a conversation with me made the difference that day. I don’t think I was self-aware enough to know that. What I do know, however, is that being seen makes a huge difference. In my depression, I did not want to be seen. I wanted to fade away. That was the driver behind my desire, to simply not be here. To disconnect from everything in order to disconnect from the pain I was in. Small connections helped me understand what I was giving up, and why I might want to rethink that.
