How to help someone with a mental health concern.
I especially agree with the first rule, “Offer your Friendship and Support”. You’d be surprised how effective you can be just by being available to listen. It may not seem like much, but it is so infrequent that someone actually takes the time to really stop their lives and listen, that it is a huge help!
Regardless of which side of the going to war fence you are on, I hope you can at least agree that the families of the servicemen and women who are currently deployed in the Middle East deserve our support at this time. In that vein, Natalie is setting up Operation Civilian Support to: – Accept…
Pin If you want to eat, eat. Your body needs food.
If you want to sleep, sleep. Your body needs sleep.
If you need to do something for your mental health? Do it, your mind needs care.
If you want to work out, work out. It’s good for you.
If you want to work hard on a project, work hard. The sense of accomplishment you get from hard work is great.
Do any of these things, it’s your choice. But don’t let your view of the things you need be altered by things you might want to do, and don’t let anyone else tell you how to earn those things. You don’t have to earn food and rest, they are a required part of being a human. You’re allowed to be human, no matter how hard you work out.
Back in November, as we were making our way around the Colosseum in Rome, I couldn’t help but think about the thousands of people who died in this arena. At the time, this was considered “entertainment” and was used to sate the mob of Rome. I began to think about our modern-day culture and what…
Pin So, the thing I want us to talk about this year is not just encouragement to call a hotline or to reach out to a friend for help, or even to tell our stories and erase the stigma around mental health issues. I want us to consider doing more than that. I want us, as a society, to figure out how to provide hope. As much value as there is in all of those other things if I can’t provide some hope that things will get better, that we are working and advocating for things to get better across all areas of our culture, then I can’t honestly say that there is a reason for someone to hope, and at the end of the day, the thing that truly prevented me from taking my own life when I was at my worst, was the hope that life wouldn’t always be that painful.
As it turned out, my life wasn’t always that painful, and even in times of pain, I can look back and remember that.
How do we provide that hope for others who have been beaten down and worn out with life right now? Where does their hope come from?
Last week, I wrote a post on my other blog about Andy Warhol being a lifestreamer, because he took photos/video of what was going on around him and turned it into art. In that post, I noted that he was smart enough to surround himself with creative and interesting people, which increased the likelihood of…
Pin When Laura talks about the reactions she’s afraid of getting she is 100% correct. A big part of why I hesitate often to tell people when I’m struggling, feeling incredibly anxious, depressed, or just mentally out of sorts is because I absolutely do not want to hear about how many other people are struggling worse. I already know there are a lot of people struggling. People who don’t have the resources I do, don’t have the support I do, with poor physical health issues or being a part of an underprivileged group, etc. I know, and I understand that I am privileged to have the things that I do and the tools to try and take care of myself that others do not.
And yet, my struggles are still struggles. If I am telling you about them it’s because I need someone to know. I need to be heard. I need to explain what is happening in my own head to someone who will listen to me. I am not negating anyone else’s struggle by talking about my own. Please understand when I, or someone else you know, comes to you and tells you that they are struggling with our mental health, it has likely taken all of our energy just to gather up the courage to tell anyone, so when you deflect like this it’s devastating to us. We carry these heavy, heavy, burdens with us every single day of our lives and we simply need someone to recognize them and maybe help us a little bit every now and again.
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