May is Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s the month when we spread awareness about the importance of mental health and how debilitating mental illnesses can be. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates close to one in five Americans struggle with a mental health condition. After the difficult times we’ve lived through, is that really surprising?

Mental illnesses are serious. They affect the way we think and feel. They affect the way we live our lives. Mental health is just as important as physical health. This can happen to anyone. None of us are at fault, and we all deserve to live good, fulfilling lives. That’s why it is time to raise awareness.

Mental Health Matters

Mental health is essential to our well-being. When we have a problem, whether it’s too much stress or a more serious mental illness, it can strongly impact our daily lives. There are many kinds of mental illnesses. We may struggle with depression or anxiety, or another mood disorder. We may also deal with trauma or eating disorders. We can have a variety of mental health difficulties. And they’re all real. They’re real, and they’re not easy to live with.

A lot of us don’t reach out for help when we need to. It can be because of stigma or because we don’t recognize the signs that we’re struggling with something real and dangerous. That means we often end up in precarious situations. We end up unemployed, homeless, with a life we don’t want. Some of us are even pushed toward suicide. Life isn’t easy, but it’s not meant to be this hard.

Learning Self-Care

Taking care of ourselves is hard when we don’t feel well. But when it comes to mental health, we will never get better if we don’t start taking care of ourselves. That might mean going back to basics, like ensuring we eat and sleep well. It can also mean something that requires a little more discipline, like making a routine and sticking to it or exercising.

But sometimes it’s about doing things we enjoy. We can do something creative like listening to music, drawing, dancing, or relaxing, like taking a hot bath after a long day. Whatever it is we like, and we find fun, we can carve out a space to do it.

Reducing Stigma

A big reason why many of us don’t get the help we need is stigma. A lot of people have a hard time accepting that mental illness is real, or even that mental health is important. Often, this translates into some of us refusing to seek help when we’re struggling and rejecting it when it’s offered. It affects our self-esteem and how we view ourselves.

That’s why it’s so important to combat stigma. The more we talk about it, the more normalized it will become. We can help people who are having doubts by simply sharing our stories. We can check on people we suspect need help and support them.

Seeking Help

There is no right way to treat mental illness. We are all too different for there to be a single solution to all our problems, but some things are more helpful than others, and there’s no harm in sharing what we know.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re the ones struggling or a loved one is. What matters is that we’re all able to reach out for support when we need it. Counseling is a great way to start. If we don’t know what we’re struggling with, a counselor can help us figure it out. They can help us when times are hard, and we don’t know what to do next. We don’t have to deal with this on our own. And that’s what we should keep in mind this month.