men-tal health

noun

• A person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.

CHANGING THE PERCEPTION

So by definition, mental health is really just the state of someone’s mind and emotions. Nowhere does it mention depression, anxiety, bi-polar, schizophrenia, suicide, agoraphobia, PTSD or anything along those lines.

Those conditions are what come to mind because that’s all the dialogue is ever about when discussing mental health. When it’s looked at this way, the dialogue can change to include happiness, peace, calm, joy and tranquility for example. These too are the state of mind’s and emotions people experience aren’t they?

CONFUSION

When people hear the term “mental health” what they’re generally hearing is “mental health issues”. This happens on an unconscious level so the person is not aware of it until it’s pointed out to them. This is a large factor in why people don’t stick their hands up when the question is asked, “Who has mental health?”

Mental illness is an all-together different thing from mental health too. If you look at it from a physical perspective, everyone has physical health, we all experience physical issues from time to time, but we don’t all suffer from physical illness.

Same goes with mental health - we all have it, we all experience issues and have good patches and bad, but we aren’t all experiencing psychosis or an inability to create the chemicals required to feel good.

If a person doesn’t believe they have mental health then they’re not going to be in a position to look after and take good care of it are they? It’s not surprising then that the human and financial cost of poor mental health is at an all time high.

WORKING BLIND

During the course of a MyndFit program, clients are taught how to begin looking after their mental health by understanding that they have it, what they can do to improve it and then how to maintain it in a positive state.

Unfortunately, most of society is walking around with a blindfold on and simply expecting themselves to be happy. They don’t know how to be self-aware and then self regulate, how to manage their emotions or to strengthen their minds to become more resilient against the day-to-day issues that everyone encounters.

So this ignorance (in a literal, not judgemental sense) combined with ego around not having mental health is creating a recipe for disaster.

Men are 4 times more likely to take their own lives and much of this is due to being ashamed of “having mental health” and not knowing that there are strategies they can learn to look after themselves. It just doesn’t make sense does it?

THE GOOD NEWS

Nick Sutherland, the founder of MyndFit very nearly became a statistic but thankfully scraped through his version of “rock bottom” and has learnt first hand what to do and more importantly, what not to do when it comes to looking after one’s own mind.

Through this lived experience and subsequent scholastic learning, Nick has put himself in a position where he can pass on the knowledge that helped him get back on his feet and in control of his own life.

Bad things will still happen to good people - that can’t be changed, but what can be changed is how those people process and manage themselves during those challenging times.

Thankfully there is plenty you can learn and then implement to feel more balanced, present, relaxed and connected to what’s really important in your lives.