It's often something invisible. It's something that others may not fully understand. It's feelings that you struggle to put into words. It's mental health.
Mental health always seems to be the topic that people overlook when trying to figure out what may be wrong in their lives or in the lives of those around them. People can blame stress from school, work, family, and friends, but they don't seem to think much about their current mental state and how that may be affecting their life every day.
I am an avid advocate for mental health, but even I find it difficult to talk about at times. After a long day, it's easy to simply say, "I'm just tired," when it's so much more than that. It's not just "being tired" one day. For me, it feels like a constant state of tiredness and exhaustion.
I've always been one to be fairly open about my mental health, but lately, I find myself thinking that I just want to keep my feelings to myself. I hear about these crazy, inspirational stories of people conquering the darkness and becoming their true selves again. I know that I'm on that journey, but I don't know if I want to be on it alone or with others.
It's hard when you see people living these glorious lives, and it's easy to wonder, "When is it going to be my turn?" Healing and feeling whole again is a process. The difficulty in knowing that this is something I cannot be cured from in one night makes some days worse than others.
In order for people to improve and be better healed and treated, we need to start the conversation surrounding mental health. It can't be a silent struggle because everyone deserves to be heard. Every person has a set of struggles that they keep to themselves, but what if these struggles and these problems took over their entire lives? People would probably want to talk about them. This is what we should start doing with mental health.
Struggling with a mental illness shows how invisible your internal struggles truly are to the people that you spend so much of your time with. It's eye-opening to realize that, unless we talk about these issues, people will still have no idea that these problems are going on. It should be treated like our physical health. Although we don't always know what's wrong, it's easy to talk about something not being normal.
We have to start conversations surrounding mental health. As a society, we have to start treating these issues with more respect and seriousness. To anyone who is struggling that may be reading this, know that I am thinking of you. I am hoping that you find yourself and that you become the person you're supposed to be without these struggles. It's time to talk about mental health; let's make it a priority.
