An introduction to mental health
Mental health is a dear subject to me. Not only does it fascinate me, but I’ve lived through mental health struggles myself as so many others do, and have experienced many ups and downs. When I thought to write this specific article, I thought of what I could’ve done with learning in a year seven class rather than half the BS I sat through that wasted my potential. The first key to understanding mental health is awareness. So here are a couple of things I wish I had known before, that would have enabled me to manage things, rather than struggling blindly.
Key words in this article!
The mental metre
Comfort zones
the mental metre
There are different levels to your mental well-being just as there is your physical health and unfortunately, we live in a society that only seems to care when you are in the worst zone. Often this is just too late. Before reaching that zone, there are many strategies that if learnt about could prevent anxiety attacks, mental breakdowns, isolation, suicidal thoughts and so much more. Self-awareness is key. Practice checking in with yourself each day. Unless you're a robot, you will be feeling an emotion so filter that into one of the zones below and make it your goal to be in the healthiest zone for you at the time. For example, if you're feeling highly anxious with symptoms of overthinking you will note you are in the time for action zone - it would then be good to make it your goal to lower those thoughts by a tiny amount taking you a step further to the comfort zone. You may do this by focusing on a hobby or doing something you love, that makes you feel good eg take a bath, watch a loved tv show, do some journaling, spend time with a good friend, go for a walk. Baby steps are crucial to achieving your long-term goals. If you feel like you’re sliding back a bit, focus on making the steps even smaller. During my struggles people would tell me how far I’d come and I couldn’t see it because my expectations were too high and overwhelming. Make those steps small and achievable and take a moment to sit and see the contrast from yesterday and I guarantee you’ll find something you’ve progressed with if you are actively trying to better yourself. The key emotions I believe everyone should work to maintain on a daily basis are determination and hope and you can find them no matter how much darkness is surrounding you. Trust me.
It’s also very normal to fluctuate often. It’s actually less normal to always be at the top as life is never that still nor should it be
2. comfort zone
Think of the comfort zone as like a target, the places and things you’re most comfortable with is the bullseye and the wider out you go the more challenging and daunting things seem.
This is the sort of task that you could sketch and write out and then go and do. Firstly, I’ll write all my comfort zones eg. being in my bedroom, etc; I then write things I could see myself doing shortly or have done that I’m comfortable with but still takes energy to do. In the last ring, the furthest away, I write things that overwhelm me slightly, so things that cause more anxiety and stress and the goal is to move them to the next ring inwards so they are not as daunting. The idea of this is you always have your intermediate comfort zone to go to and that will never fade or go away.
I think understanding about the importance of self awareness and knowing how to tune into where you are at, and the benefit of knowing about your comfort zone is key to healing quicker when it comes to mental health, particularly with anxiety and depression. There’s obviously so much more I want to write but if I were to chose two things on the spot to teach people about, these two would be it.
