When it comes to health and wellness, our automatic perception of it leans towards the physical health aspect. Although mental health is becoming a growing topic it still needs more attention in the world-wide view. There is a lot of emphasis on the physical well-being, proper diet and healthy living. Here, in the western world, the topic of mental health is well openly discussed, well-received and viewed as one of the most essential compartment of well-being.
Meanwhile, there comes an interference of culture and the aspect that an individual’s set of belief system might affect the fundamental part of health itself. Culture has a way of devaluing a “foreign” value that might be realistically beneficial because it crosses the culture's appropriation. In this topic some of it would be counseling, therapy or psychiatric intervention of any kind. Many ethnic cultures within our society turn their noses up at any kind of position that might mean vulnerability or helplessness. This stems from the idea, in many cultures that showing your vulnerabilities make you a weaker person.
Self image protection is the most crucial here, the need to protect the vulnerabilities within at the expense of professional help. Many cultures, including my own put so much emphasis on the idea of appearing stronger than what’s true in reality. It is despondent to deny the core of humanity by a learned set of values or morals, it is harder for most people to unlearn this twisted method. Yes, culture has a negative interference with mental health. Countless research articles on public health show the damaging aspect of it. Yes, it is hard to discard the idea of self-image protection, to undo the tights ropes of our bundled mindset of not wanting to be vulnerable. There is a misunderstanding on understanding the importance of acceptance and vulnerability in many cultures. The need to hide what it means to be human because of fear of being judged is only a restriction to be fully human in the first place. We all have busy lives, we juggle jobs, family life, social life, relationships, our thoughts and everything in between. Sometimes, there will be a point where we might feel stuck, unable to move to the direction we want. We will be going through a difficult season in our lives where we will need to seek help from others for another perspective. There is no shame in that!
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22)
From a personal account of being on a receiver's end of therapy, I wouldn’t have known the irony of strength being vulnerability and weakness, acting tough when you’re not. Aside from gaining a sense of clarity in my situations and in myself, I have gained the understanding and acceptance of my feelings. I have learned the importance of facing up the life which comes with waves of chaos. I have learned to admit my situations as they are with no cover up. To claim that, to say, “This is what it is,” and to ask how I can move from there. To have a knowledgeable, caring individual to listen to you, to guide you and to be there when you needed it (for my therapist who’s reading this, thank you a ton), is a privilege and an honor. This is to say that the mind is the driving force for the whole body to operator, it is the machine. We have to pay attention to what we put in our minds as much as we pay attention to what we put in our bodies. We should have a safe space to let things out our heads, to unravel, to unlearn. Our thoughts run who we are, our whole being. And health is greater than culture, especially when it restricts many, making them slaves of a learned twisted belief and not masters of themselves.
