Mental health is a difficult topic only when we decide to avoid talking about it and pretend things are fine, or that mental health issues will eventually disappear. We put a mask on them and keep going without addressing the deeper problems happening inside our minds. But mental health issues get deeper the longer we let them linger without working on them. Similar to physical muscles, if you have an injury and continue playing, then it’ll eventually break and will take much longer to recover.
I’ve had mental health incidents that have made me reconsider aspects of my life, relationships, and career. I call them mini-life crises – eye and mind-opening moments that have helped me reevaluate some of my life choices. I don’t believe they were good or bad. They simply happened for a reason.
I’m sure most of us will have different mental health issues in the future as life goes on and different problems show up. Whether these are big or small will depend on the work we do on ourselves to improve our minds and the techniques we learn to address them when the time comes.
I’ve personally been working out on my mental health through meditation and journaling for several years. Meditating helps me rebalance emotions, feelings, and thoughts; gain focus and understand what’s inside versus outside of my control; and talk to myself kindly. While journaling is my preferred method to put all my running thoughts on paper to better understand my mind.
I’ve yet to work with a mental health professional, but I can see myself attending therapy in the near future to further work on deeper cases and learn new tools.
Originally posted on Tiny Letter #2.
Richard Chan 