Hello!! Are you okay?
One of the common things we unconsciously say during our conversations is “I’m well or all is well”. But are we really well? Is everything around us okay? Or is it something we make ourselves believe so that we escape dealing with uncomfortable situations?
We live a fast paced life. Everything we need is available with a click of a button or a swipe. In a scenario like this, our mental health gets overlooked in fact not looked at all.
According to WHO, Health is defined as “a state of complete physical,mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease”. Therefore we can say that having no disease on the outside does not guarantee our well-being. It is an overall, holistic wellness, where mental health plays a very important role.
What we do not deal with, we accumulate.
For example, we call a house clean, only when all corners, all rooms, bathrooms, cupboards are clean. We don’t call a house completely clean if only one room is clean and all the other rooms are messed up. We also don’t call our house clean if all the junk is collected and dumped in a particular corner or a cupboard. When the guests come, we show them a clean room or a clean house, but we are aware that all the junk is piled up somewhere. Same is the case with our mental health. We don’t deal with our emotions, feelings and try to cover it up by doing so many things to silence the noise in our hearts. And one fine day, a small insignificant disruption can cause a great deal of pent up emotions bursting out in the form of anger or tears.
If you relate to this, then you are not alone, we all go through this.
What you feed into your mind or what you entertain in your mind determines how healthy you are. It is not just the food we take in or the exercises we do. They are important but having a peaceful, sorted mind guarantees complete health.
According to WHO mental health is defined as “a state of mental well being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively and can contribute to his or her community.”
At this point let me also share that no one achieves a complete state of health or mental wellness on their own, that’s why it is absolutely necessary to talk about your issues. We can always choose to make a healthy change for a better mental health.
Why do we need to talk about mental health?
- Mental health includes nurturing our emotional, social and psychological well-being. It affects the way we think, feel and relate to others.
- It helps us in creating safe boundaries and maintaining healthy relationships.
- When we are mentally healthy, we enjoy our life, relationships and the environment we are in.
- Better mental health increases creativity, try new things and an individual’s ability to take risks.
- It helps an individual cope better with difficult times in their personal and professional life.
- It helps an individual feel intense emotions and make sense of it like sadness or anger that comes due to loss of a loved one, relationship problems, difficult circumstances etc.
- Taking care of mental health can help an individual combat some of the mental illness that comes as a result of chronic physical illness.
- Unhealthy mental health can also affect a person’s healthy behaviors such as eating sensibly, regular exercise, adequate sleep, engaging in safe sexual practices etc.
- Mental ill health can lead to unemployment, broken families, abuse etc.
- A sound mental health can help a person feel more confident in themselves.
Having a sound physical and mental health together contributes to a healthy lifestyle. When we consciously make an effort to practice healthy behaviors for a healthy body and mind, we are choosing wellness.