So this morning was one of those “difficult” mornings. As usual, no idea why. I had had a nice Saturday, a reasonable nights sleep by my standards. maybe having that extra hour was the killer. Anyway as per usual the wife is up being busy and useful, me? I’m juts paying there. I did reach for the phone to pass the time, Facebook is a bit of a demon if I am honest, but that’s probably the subject of a separate post.
One of my friends had posted a “copy and paste” update about mental health. It covered some good points and it was being done for all the right reasons. Interestingly despite my dislike for such posts in a funny way it actually helped me get started as I typed the response below. Brave or foolish, I’m not sure.I did consider removing it, no one commented, I guess some must have read it but it remains there.
It is good that awareness has improved around mental health but don’t confuse that with the need to talk about it all the time. For many having people wanting to talk “at them” about it wont in fact help, at least not just because the unaffected person thinks they should or has the time to. Talking (about anything) can be very hard and talking about the fact you can’t talk about your mental health just increases the anxiety. For many there are of course great days where you can talk to your hearts content, other days it’s a struggle, writing on someones FB for instance can help even if their hands are shaking and the tears are flowing. So yes awareness needs to improve, but just be aware of it, make allowances and be kind and gentle when they find the strength to talk. Even then if a hint of a situation is mentioned or you just suspect that doesn’t mean it’s time to open the flood gates on conversation. Note it away, then beware, as the saying goes slowly slowly catchy monkey. You can’t begin to image what it is like and rushing in to force conversation on people or making sweeping statements about how it’s great to talk about mental health, could very easily there drive them further into the darkness.