5 Things talking about my mental health has taught me
Disclaimer
This post contains mental health topics.
If you don’t feel comfortable reading this, please take care of yourself and consider looking at a different post instead.
If you need help, please trust yourself and open up to someone, preferably a professional, or call a mental health hotline.
You are worthy, remember that!
Talking about mental health issues can be complicated and intimidating, but the rewards are totally worth it, believe me!
To strengthen you in opening up or even making you feel less alone in all of this, I have compiled my top 5 things that mental health has shown me in this post.
What you can find in this post about mental health:
1. I am not alone
2. Mental illness is not a weakness
3. Talking helps
4. The right people to be around
5. Confidence in my story
1. I am not alone
When I first started to get depressed and realized something was “off”, I kept it to myself.
I kept it to myself for a long, long time.
Too long, looking back now.
Everyone was in Lockdown due to COVID-19, so it wasn´t all too hard not to let people see.
No one in my friend circle or family had ever spoken openly about mental health with me before, and even though I knew vaguely what depression and anxiety were, it took a long time to figure out (and accept) I was probably suffering from them.
And I was, or at least, felt alone with it.
I turned to videos and music, feeling seen and understood on the internet but still lacking that feeling in my personal life.
The crazy thing is that once I started talking about it (to one of my best friends first, then my family and more and more people) the more I realized how universal mental illnesses are.
Nearly all the people I opened up to about my struggles had a story from their own lives dealing with mental health issues, and those who didn´t knew someone who did.
You are not alone in this; mental health is important, and it is more common than we (still) think!
2. Mental illness is not a weakness.
For a long time, even after opening up to loved one’s, I felt like my depression and anxiety were shameful and a weakness. Something that made me fragile and “less than”.
But talking about it a lot and going to therapy has really helped me to see that it is not a weakness.
If nothing else, it’s normal, and it can even be a strength in connecting and understanding other people in difficult situations.
Knowing what it can feel like to be overwhelmed, burned out, anxious or depressed can help us to help others just starting to figure it out.
It helps us to be more empathetic, have a deeper understanding of what they must be going through, and offer truly helpful advice and resources (if they want it!).
And truly, dealing with mental health issues has made me stronger!
Not only in a “what doesn’t kill you” way, but in a way that I know now how to take proper care of myself. I know what I need, I know what’s good for me and how to listen to my body and mind in a healthier way.
This helps a lot in building a life I truly want and feel comfortable and joyful in.
3. Talking help
Talking about your mental health can feel so scary at the beginning (I know it has for me!), and the worse it gets, the harder it is to talk about!
But I am here to remind you that talking truly helps.
If you are fortunate enough to have people in your life that you trust and love, pick one of them and just start with explaining how you feel.
You don’t have to put the whole story with all its twists and turns and all your thoughts out there, but just saying “I haven´t been feeling well and I don´t know what to do.” Can be a great start!
And it truly does help!
I even realize this now, feeling so much better.
Talking to friends or my therapist about things that burden me in that moment or have simmered in me for a long time can be so rewarding!
The burdens aren´t gone then, it’s not THAT easy, but the mental load has lifted a bit, and I am often able to think things through more clearly and rationally than before.
4. The right people to be around
I am truly fortunate in having had full support from most people I opened up to about my mental health, but there have been some uncomfortable moments as well.
To this day, talking about mental health is still something some people feel uncomfortable with or would rather ignore for many different reasons.
The important thing to know is that you are not responsible for someone else feeling comfortable with your illness.
That said, you don’t have to confide in people who make you feel unseen or uncomfortable talking about your struggles!
If and how you design relationships with people that are uncomfortable with the topic of mental illness is completely up to you and there is truly no right way navigating this.
Trust your gut as always and know that you can have an amazing life with and without these people in it!
In the end, my advice would be to stick to the one’s that are focused on listening, loving and supporting you. And trust me, they exist!
Especially because there is a great chance these are the people that are not only going to be there during your mental health struggles, but for everything life might put you through, and that, in my eyes, is true love!
5. Confidence in my story
Opening up has been a journey for me, as you can probably tell after this post.
But it has brought me to a truly beautiful place where I can talk openly about my mental health with almost anybody.
I won´t share details with strangers, but I stopped hiding the fact that I have struggled and still struggle with my mental health from time to time.
It still feels vulnerable for me and sometimes even a bit scary (f.e. posting this on the internet), but I am still choosing to talk (and now write, apparently) about it.
I am choosing to talk about it because I wish someone had when I didn´t know what was going on with me 5 years ago.
I am choosing to talk about it because I was so grateful for every story or post I found at that time that made me feel less alone, less “crazy”, and more understood.
I am choosing to talk about it because having mental health issues doesn’t make me “broken” or “weak”.
I am choosing to talk about it, so that it can be normal in the future.
This post has been all about the top 5 things talking about my mental health has taught me.
I hope this has been helpful and please remember: You deserve all the good things this world has to offer!
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