Little Efforts, Big Difference

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

Once upon a mind repairing conversation with an esteemed friend, we talked about a popular saying that the most dangerous person is the one who seeks to do good for all people. It was in my days of hot-headed-cold-sweat feminism when I didn’t realize that equality doesn’t look anything like the markers that are being touted as signs of equality for all.

That conversation helped me to recalibrate my perspectives and attitude towards being a driver of change. I became more conscious of how we can go terribly wrong in the process of trying to accomplish something so outstandingly good. It has remained a significant contribution to shaping my life philosophy.

This does not mean that creating or spearheading positive changes is something that I’m less interested in doing. It just means that more attention is accorded to the process of establishing changes.

There are a few changes that matter to me as a person, especially when it comes to mental health issues, and this passion is one of the drives that led me to start this blog.

Having come to the reality that mental health status is one of the major determinants of life expectancy, I believe that it is crucial to create more awareness and draw empathy for people living with mental health issues.

However, bringing about changes in delicate areas of life like mental health is a rather slow and arduous process because if implemented without caution, then it will create more victims in an already suffering population.

Of course, one could say that people do have an awareness of mental health issues. Social media has a lot of people throwing around uninformed but consequential diagnoses at people they don’t agree with. So there’s a semblance of an existing awareness there that is really not there.

Every day life has people conferring diagnoses upon themselves because they dare to be nuanced in their thoughts in environments that encourage only black and white thinking. Another semblance of mental health awareness without an actual awareness.

It would be excusable if people stopped at uninformed self-assigned diagnoses but this is not often the case as some people tend to engage in confirmation seeking behaviors that ultimately leads to drug-seeking behaviors.

These things don’t only complicate life for individuals, they also add unnecessary complexity to an already complicated field of human health.

I want to use my blogging platform to:

• Draw attention to how mental health rules everything around us, directly impacting the quality of life and in fact, our lifespans.

• Help people living with mental health issues to overcome the shame and stigma of living with a mental health diagnosis and seek help when they need it.

• Point out the human tendency to weaponize mental health – an evolutionary trait that still lingers in all of us, so that we can change course if we find ourselves leaning towards such behaviors.

• Emphasize the importance of recognizing and honoring the cultural differences in other people instead of pathologising what we don’t know.

• Help families understand that participating in the healing process of a loved one who is struggling with mental health can be a challenging but also rewarding experience.

Why does it matter? Good question and I’ll answer it.

Awareness of and empathy for people living with mental health diagnosis matters because we are all one major life event away from getting an acute psychiatric diagnosis or getting admitted into a psychiatric hospital.

The most profound moment of exploring my interest in the mental health field was watching a completely manic person offer an apology for acting out while being unable to control their actions in that moment. I cannot forget the look of helplessness in everyone’s eyes that day.

We don’t need to wait until we find ourselves in such positions before we understand why it is important to continue to fine tune the attitudes that people hold towards people living with mental health issues.

Remember, nobody chooses a mental health disorder as a way to course through the world. Privilege in this case is acting like we did any particular thing to earn our sanity!

If this is something that interests you, give us a follow. Comments get replies and emails sent to neowrites@sanetimental.net will be replied to as well. Like and share this article with your circle, and keep sane till we catch up again!