Your mental health matters, that’s why I’m talking about it

Your mental health matters, believe it or not. While the awareness around mental health issues is growing, we still live in a world where any kind of disability is a disadvantage.

What is mental health?

Mental health is made up out of biological, social, and psychological factors. You may be more prone to having mental health issues when one or both of your parents suffer from the same issues. However, you can also develop a poor mental health due to high amounts of stress, abuse, or because of a plethora of other factors.

Our mental health rules the way we react to certain people or situations. Someone without any mental health problems may react with surprise when someone suddenly touches them on the shoulder, while someone with trauma may flinch or even break down. Your mental health is important, but the capitalistic world we grow up in doesn’t seem to care about that.

Why we need to talk about it

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people suffer from their mental health in varying degrees. Most of them don’t even know that they are suffering, it’s become normal life for them. Every attempt to seek help or support is shut down, and they are left to believe that they just need to suck it up, or that they’re looking for attention.

I used to, and still, struggle with my mental health a lot. When I went to seek help at age 16, the doctor just turned me away by saying “all teens go through this phase.” Six years later, I can tell you that it was not a phase. It’s a chronic condition that has its ups and downs. However, I grew up with a supportive family and an amazing group of friends, so I never gave up.

Right now, I have a better understanding of my mental health: I have autism. I’m learning to recognize my boundaries and I’m learning to take breaks when I need them. Even if that means that I will probably never be able to work 40 hours a week. I work together with a great therapist who helps me recognize obstacles. She urges me to challenge myself in the ways that I can. I’m privileged like that, but not many others are.

There are still plenty of people who are unable to get help, or a diagnosis. People who don’t have any support system, and need to battle this illness on their own. People who can’t decide to only work 20 hours a week, because they can’t afford their home otherwise.

Those are the people I speak up for. Your mental health matters, and so does theirs. We need to speak up to make a change, to make sure that they, too, can get the support and the help they need. We need to speak up so that they know that people listen to them and that thousands of strangers support them.

What you can do

However, I can’t do this all by myself. If you want to help, speaking up isn’t enough. We need to show that we mean it.

• Approach people who seem to struggle with their mental health, and offer them a listening ear, advice, or whatever they may need. Sometimes, knowing that people heard you is enough to give you hope.
• Support organizations that focus on helping people with mental health issues, disabilities, or mental illnesses. You don’t have to pay if you can’t, just sharing their work and spreading the word about them often already helps.
• Accept your own struggles. Everybody has a bad day, and that’s okay. Even if you perceive yourself to have good mental health, it’s essential to take some time off when you need it. Otherwise, you may end up a victim yourself.
• Inform yourself. Too little people know the struggles of people with mental health issues, disabilities, or illnesses. This results in bad advice, or even refusal to listen. Inform yourself so that you can understand what someone is going through.

Your mental health matters, and so does mine. If we continue to speak up and fight for the recognition of these issues, we will be able to make a positive change for the future. A future where mental health recovery is the most prevalent ideal, rather than ignorance and rejection.