By: Ava Kesler
This article is not going to cover the medical and scientific importance of mental health, but rather the real-life experience I had with it myself these past few months. I hope that in sharing this, you all can find comfort in relating to my story and learn to move forward.
To me, mental health is a state of mind. It is what lets us function on a daily basis. Just as our physical health is important in allowing us to move and exercise, our mental health is responsible for our ability to think, and thus perform in every other aspect of our lives.
These past few months have been an emotional rollercoaster for me for multiple reasons. It's normal to feel this way from time to time. School, friends, relationships, and family events can all impact our mood, and in turn, our mental health.
However, I found that for me, this was interfering with my ability to live my life the way I wanted to, for example, maintaining MyMindsMap.
In life, we will face many issues, but we will grow as a result.
I know there are many coping strategies to deal with difficulties in life. Some are good for you and some are not, but I find that it is as important to go through that journey yourself as it is to overcome the problem you were facing.
I won't go into the details of my own struggles, but essentially I found myself not finding happiness in the things I usually did. I questioned a lot of things in my life, and I strayed from my values. I got caught in a dangerous cycle of unhappiness.
I found myself in a state where I felt like I wasn't confident enough about my own life to give advice here on MyMindsMap. How could I guide others when I felt I couldn't even guide myself?
Yet I realized this is why I made MyMindsMap in the first place. COVID originally changed my life so drastically that I faced similar emotions, and made MyMindsMap a safe place for others feeling lost in the same way.
It is important to understand that it is ok to feel upset or overwhelmed. Everyone is facing their own difficulties, and while their's may not be as big of a deal to you, for them, it could be like holding the weight of the world.
Overcoming whatever challenge you might face will never be easy, and this is for a million different reasons.
"Self love" is always such a vague term, but in this case, I think it means understanding that you are important. Your feelings matter. Whatever you might be going through or facing in life, understand that it is up to you to overcome it.
Sometimes our own thoughts can be our biggest fault. We magnify or minimize details that we want to believe, sometimes for the worse in the end.
The biggest lesson that I learned from all this is that I have to be strong. I have to adhere to what I believe in, to who is important in my life, to who showed me love and who didn't, to the goals that I have.
Easier said than done.
But look at it this way.
Had I simply read that statement, I would scoff and probably think it to be empty talk. But I actually underwent that thought process and the pain that caused me to reach that conclusion, and because of that, I actually really believe it with all my heart.
I hope that all of you reading this take this lesson I learned and apply it to your own life.
Life can be challenging, but try to learn from it as much as you can. Be loyal to yourself.
And most importantly, look at how you can become stronger from whatever you may be facing. Enjoy the process by knowing you are the main character.
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