It is our emotional, psychological, and social well-being which impacts the way we think, feel and act with others. It also impacts the way we handle stress, interact with others, and make choices in different situations. Mental Health isn’t just the absence of any mental problems. It could be the way you feel for a long duration that makes you feel something’s just not right about life. When your mind is not healthy, you wouldn’t feel healthy physically.
“Ah just suck it up and deal with it.”
“Don’t be such a child.”
“Man up.”
“Deal with the pain.”
“Learn to move on.”
“You are so weak emotionally. You need to be stronger.”
“You get triggered so easily. Calm the F*** down!”
“Why are you so hysterical?”
“Ah just cheer up! Don’t be a party pooper.”
And several more such as these.
I myself am guilty of having used some of these at several instances in the past. Am I proud of having done so? Certainly not.
The only silver lining, if you may call it so, to an otherwise gloomy cloud of the Covid induced lockdown is that more and more people have begun realizing that they need to care for themselves more, perhaps more than ever before. Over a year and a half of a life gone topsy-turvy and you begin noticing signs of your mind in the doldrums. Losing jobs or working from home, kids studying at home through online mode, reduced social interaction, forced restrictions on movement and freedom, fear of contracting the virus and many times loved ones falling prey to it, the hospitalization, treatment costs, a bleak future with the economy dwindling and the looming dangers all took a toll on the state of our mind. The US Centers for Disease Control called it ‘The war has changed’. Yes, it is a war where the enemy is unseen and extremely tiny but massively lethal. What happens when you face such quandary in such a short time at once? Mental Health suffers.
This did not go unnoticed. Several countries recognized this and set up hotline for people suffering potential mental health crisis.
In the past few months, we have seen some great sporting stars putting their mental health ahead of the medals and the victories. From Naomi Osaka who had first stunned the world with her Wimbledon win against the mighty Serena Williams and then Simone Biles, the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) gymnast who withdrew from Tokyo Olympics citing mental health issues, we have witnessed the youth prioritizing mental health.
“We have to protect our mind and our body rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do,” said Biles. By doing so, and putting everything that they worked hard for at stake, they are making a strong statement that they are humans too. If the mind doesn’t feel healthy, it needs rest. Period. Read only....
