Mental health has historically been seen as a “sickness of the weak.”  The world has slowly started to see how many people have had a time in their life where their mental health took a backseat.  People are not afraid to take their spiritual or physical temperature, but avoid anything to do with their mental temperature.

Your heart in your body is a very important structure.  You feel emotions of love in it: your pulse increases,it feeds blood to your body parts that feel spirituality coming into their body, and it is the main source of your brain making clear decisions without even thinking about it.  Your brain says: breath, move your legs, scratch that itch. But it also says laugh, cry, care.  Your body is typically talked about when talking about your shell. Your spirituality is typically talked about when talking about your faith or beliefs. What about our brains?  Why is it hard to talk about the job of your brain when it is such an incremental part of life?

Mental health is an urgent part of our entire working system.  It’s wires and connections control everything your body and soul use.  I would hope that from this post you do see that MENTAL HEALTH should be a priority.

I wonder if we called it something else? Because the word “mental” is associated  with our weaknesses and not our accomplishments.  Caring for your mental health keeps you healthy in general.  What if we called it “cranial health” or “brain health”? Would people then see that the spongy soft tissue thing filled with fat and water is not just a regulator of emotion?  Keeping your brain healthy keeps you in a forward motion…literally.  When I talked about your heart, I talked about it being affected by emotions.  Your kidneys are affected by your emotions.  Your whole body is affected by emotions.  Why would we not want to take the best care of our brain’s emotional connection to the body as a priority?

When I started taking an anti-depressant my world changed.  I literally woke up one morning, stretched and smiled, and was so ready to take on the day.  My neurons don’t fire in order.  I need medicine.  That does not make me a weak person.  People with kidney disease wake up and take medicine.  Their kidneys are breaking down.  That does not make them a weak person.  If a person had a massive heart attack, wouldn’t you want them to take their medicine?  Would you be sure everyone around them knew that they could have an incident and to just be aware of it?  So why would I not let my family or friends know I take medication for a malfunctioning neuron and could have an incident?

I’ve been on an anti-depressant for years.  I’m not depressed.  In-fact, I’m a very positive, happy person.  That does not mean that I am going to stop taking my medicine.  Just like you wouldn’t want the person with the previous heart attack to stop taking theirs.  Why would we want to be unwell again?  We both have proven that we have a disconnect in our body.

I  once heard my six year old son say “I don’t want to be here anymore, mama.”  That did not make me want to hide him away and not talk about it with others for fear of what they would think of him.  It made me want to get him help, just as if he said he was having a hard time breathing.  He was having a situational depression linked to an incident that happened in his life.  After a few years of medication, he was able to stop.  His neurons were back in order and he took on the world.  He is productive, loving and very fun.  He has lots of friends who are there for him just like he is there for them if they need help in a situation.

I do take my brain health temperature.  I do see when I am feeling a bit out of sorts.  I used to hide it from my family.  I didn’t want them to see me as someone that needed to be cared for or tiptoed around.  I tell my family up front and right away if I am needing a little extra time.  They see that my brain health is connected to my physical health.  I immediately talk to someone, write simple statements on my arm to look at for a day (such as stay grey, stay in the middle) and then I continue on.  Sometimes it takes a few days, but by making my MENTAL HEALTH a priority I am living my best life.  I wish the same for you.  Love and Hugs to all.