Mental health. Two words that get thrown around without people really knowing what they mean. The average person makes between 33,000-35,000 decisions every day. This is 24.3 decisions every minute. This puts a huge amount of stress on our brains, in a world where stimuli are both endless and everywhere, all the time. We too often fall into the trap of getting fixated on things that are transient. This has certainly been my experience.
There are a broad range of different conditions that can impact a person’s mental activity. In 2019, 1 in every 8 people were living with some form of mental disorder. This was, at the time, 970 million people across the globe. These are just the cases that are known. There are many more people who may be contending with mental health struggles and do not feel comfortable talking about it. This will only change if we make the time and space to put these issues at the front of our minds.
There have been times where I have let anxiety over trivial things creep into my life. Many people I know and love have experienced this feeling. Why, then, is there a stigma around talking or writing about it?
It is overwhelmingly likely that you know someone in your own circle that is dealing with something relating to their mental health. All of our mental health exists on a spectrum. Far beyond the realms of any clinical condition, there are good and bad days for everyone around their mental health. As a generation that prides itself on understanding social issues, it is time to we start talking about this more.
Growing up, my parents reminded me of two fundamental truths. The first is that you should always promote happiness in your life. The second is that you should always work as hard as you can to achieve your goals. The problem with these is that they seem to exist in a sort of push-pull. It may seem like one is pursued in spite of the other, with your mental health taking the biggest toll. One thing I learned at university is that there is another way.
At the National Portrait Gallery of my hometown, London, there exists a painting I have a deep fascination with: ‘A Wheatfield With Cypresses.’ This was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in his first collection in 1889. What makes this particular painting stand out is that the brushstrokes are not particularly intricate. They are not uniform. Many are rather heavy-handed. The overall impressionist scene with a pure blue sky, golden wheatfield and forest green cypress trees is still beautiful.
Life is like this painting. We often get too fixated on perfecting the day-to-day brushstrokes to sit back and wonder as to the bigger picture we are painting. There will be times in your life where you will experience intense pain. There will be times when you will experience overwhelming joy. Many of our days will be in the middle of these two bounds. Practicing good mental health is being fully aware of this and being at peace with it.
The only way to move forward, then, is to create a culture that breaks the cycle of stigma when it comes to talking about mental health issues that have existed for generations prior. The idea that you should not talk about your emotions is antiquated and one that most college-aged Americans now reject. The medical professionals all agree. Around two-thirds of doctors will ask Americans directly about their mental health.
Times have moved forward rapidly from 60 years prior, in the mid-1960s, when mental health was just beginning to be understood. In the present climate it is important to acknowledge that protecting our health should be as important as anything else. It is not something that should be shunned or a last-minute add-on to daily routines. In our lives, our brains are used just as much of our bodies. We ask a lot of them, and they ask the same of us.
There will be a time when the message in this article will land, and this will be different for everyone. The fact that an article on the subject can be written and talked about is a sign of progress. In 1964, the Surgeon General published a report that smoking, one of the most popular habits in the world, was bad for you. Now there is not a single person on this earth who does not know its effects. Not talking about these issues is damaging us. Then, as now, we are looking but not seeing this problem. Then, as now, it is time to look in a different way.