MENTAL HEALTH : COMMUNICATION

MENTAL HEALTH : COMMUNICATION

• Thursday, October 11

At the beginning of this post I wanted to dedicate it to mental health within the Asian Community. Although it is largely neglected within the Asian community, mental health also seems to be an issue no matter what ethnicity we're dealing with. (I wanted this post to be one whole message with all the issues suffered, but as I began typing I realised that there were so many and each deserve their own individual post.)

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Society has become so numb to emotions and feelings, where one man cheating is applauded for his shameful acts, where calling someone 'fat' isn't a compliment unless it's stigmatised with being 'thick'.

Regardless of these issues, we all overlook mental health, until we suffer from poor mental health so bad, we become numb. We pick up on slight changes in tone in someone's voice, the way they hide through their body language or even changes in their daily routine's.

Let me ask you something. The minute you break your phone screen, what do you do? You get it repaired, or you wait and eventually you get it repaired. When you break your arm, you go to the A&E and get it repaired. The pain won't go away, your bones will not heal immediately, but eventually our arm is repaired. Your arm heals. You heal.

Mental health is somewhat like that I guess.  If anything in the world can heal, so can you.
The most cliche line, if you have not heard it by now is 'You're not alone.' You probably expect me to disagree with this by now, but it's true. It may feel like you are, it may feel like your thoughts are eating you alive and the bad keeps you up at night. Rather it's what you want yourself to believe. You want to be alone because you feel comfort in keeping your problems to yourself. You feel secure.

The best way to start to heal yourself is to find that one person you can share your thoughts to. Mine wasn't my best friend, neither was it any of my friends in fact and it wasn't my parents at all. Rather it was my school teacher. She healed my heart with every smile she had when I came to see her. No matter what my issue was, she promised she'd be there, and she was. She made me feel happy whenever I was with her, and when I left her, I still felt that same 'happy'. Doesn't mean if someone is your friend you have to tell them everything or rely upon them. Sometimes, someone who knows nothing about you, seems to heal everything within you.

Eventually I opened up to my friends. With time and patience, they understood. It wasn't about trust, it was about communication. If I didn't feel comfortable they all understood to leave me alone. They knew when to give me space. Communicating how you feel is so important, and I urge you to do it.

For Monday's Post, I'll be covering 'Acceptance.'

Stay hydrated beautiful x