I’d like to preface this post by saying I am absolutely in no way qualified to advise anyone on mental health issues. I’m not a professional nor do I have any training on the matter. That being said, you can find resources here - please never be ashamed to use them:
1) National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-8255 or use this link to online chat: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/
2) Mental Health Resources List:
If I had to choose one thing I have been most thankful for throughout my journey with holistic medicine and holistic well-being, it would be the leaps and bounds I feel like I have made in regards to my own mental health. While I do not feel qualified to share advice, I do feel qualified to share my story.
I’ve always been the confident kid. In middle school, my hand would shoot up whenever a teacher asked a question. Even if she didn’t call on me, my hand would stay vertical because I was certain that my answer would be better than the person she called on before me (even if they were pretty much the same). In high school, I started on the varsity basketball team as a freshman - my confidence grew almost as fast as I did. After my injury, and the weight gain, and my lack of involvement in sports, however, my confidence and mental health declined and declined and declined. I dug myself into a pretty deep hole, and I’m still working on climbing out.
When I first saw my holistic practitioner, she asked me how my mental health was. Woah, I remember thinking, loaded question. My initial reaction was to lie, I mean that’s what I’ve done with everyone for the past 6 years. “I’m fine,” I would always say, “Everything’s great.” I almost muttered the latter when I stopped myself - if I want to get better, all of me has to get better. “I’ve been better,” is what I told her, “Why?”
I asked why because I wanted to understand how your mental health can affect your physical health and vice versa. She went into an in-depth explanation, but I’ll just give you my takeaways:
1. Your brain sends cues to your body. If your brain is stressed (due to a variety of emotions), your physical body will be stressed too.
2. Your entire body is interconnected. A healthy mind naturally leads to a healthy body.
3. Never underestimate the power of positivity.
If someone would’ve told me these things 4 years ago, I honestly would have told them that they’re full of it. Yoga and meditation have never worked for me in the past, so the mind can’t actually have that large of an effect on your physical health. But, my practitioner told me that in order to get better, I needed to focus on all of me, including my mind.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been keeping a journal about how I’m feeling daily. I won’t lie to you - I’m not 100% nor do I know if I will ever get there. But, I am better, and I attribute that to being a bit more aware of my body as a whole. When I’m sad or stressed or anxious, my initial reaction is to freeze up - no matter the situation. Recently, however, I’ve been turning to my journal instead - being present with myself and with my thoughts. I just went through that journal the other day to reread it and look for patterns. I found a few interesting things…
The days I didn’t exercise, my stress levels were through the roof. We all know that exercise is good for us, but most days that I decided to journal because I was stressed were to due to lack of sweat.
A lot of the days that I found myself sad or anxious, it was in relation to my physical body. “My stomach hurts and I don’t know why.” “I feel bloated today and it’s really bothering me.” “I’m sweating so much today (TMI, sorry).” The connection between my physical and mental health didn’t go unnoticed.
I felt better when I allowed myself to feel. Let me explain what I mean - I am the textbook example of hiding my emotions (remember how I almost lied to my doctor?). I’ll never tell anyone if something is wrong with me, including myself. At least, that was until this journal. There was a specific day, that I remember very well, where I was just so sad. Often, I would take those feelings and push them to the side. But, in my journal, I wrote - “crying makes it better.” I felt better when I allowed myself to feel.
While I’ve become more in tune with my physical health, I’ve also become more in tune with my mental health, and honestly, for that I am incredibly grateful. I still have loads to go when it comes to my mental health, but I feel like I’ve climbed out of the hole just a little.