I’m sure that not everyone reads mental health blogs and listens to the woes of therapy podcasts in their daily life. Huh, no one? Just me? Okay, it’s cool. So, I’m super interested in this stuff. And as I geek out consistently over how the brain has created alternate realities for every single one of us, it becomes apparent that we are all so different. Although, we do share one common goal in life – and that’s survival.
Whether you are having the time of your life partying it up on a crystal clear beach in Florida right now even though it’s winter, or whether you are stuck between a rock and a hard place; we’re surviving. [Breaks out into song] 🎵 We’re all in this together! 🎵 If you know where this song is from, I’ll make sure you get extra tax refund money back this year. 😜
Seriously though, we are all in different stages of life and what’s craziest is that we all come from different upbringings and backgrounds. Expecting other people to understand how you grew up and see your lifelong misery is often a futile endeavor. Just to name a few: growing up in poverty, being a less privileged social class, no one in your family has ever gone to college, ignorance of economic education, and COVID-19, just to name a few things that can separate all of our understandings as human beings.
Wherever you are in your walk of life, one thing becomes apparent – we all need to spend more time on our mental health. In this crazy day and age, you can go from what society considers a “normal” functioning person to full panic attack and mental break down in the blink of an eye. This stuff isn’t a joke – and certainly not to be messed with. I’ve seen it firsthand, as I’m sure others of you have too.
Another huge problem we face as a society is that we reward staying busy. If you work longer hours at your job, you’ll get paid more. If you continue to perform well in your duties, you’ll get a promotion. The more degrees and training you can take on, the more useful you can become as an employee. The more you sacrifice in your personal life – kids’ ball games, dance recitals, anniversaries and birthday parties – the better and more successful you will be with the capitalistic economy that we live under. Everything we do seems to be measured on a scale, like we are just a method of production. Also, as the years progress, computers and technology are replacing many everyday jobs that some of us take pride in doing. It’s difficult everywhere we look.
So, what can we all do differently?
One of the most important things we need to do is focus on our mental health. And to do that, this will require putting a lot of new habits into place for most of us. It’s no surprise that we have evolved as a species of cavemen/women unto where we are now. Unfortunately, it does come as a surprise to find out that our brains are running on ancient technology – a stone tablet if you will. This is essentially the equivalent to a pre-historic Apple iPad, but without all the iCloud and Bluetooth features. I call it the stone phone, instead of the smart phone. Basically, a parchment with some letters, and it’s difficult to even make out the words because they have faded over the millennia. That’s how old the technology of our brain is. It hasn’t been able to evolve as well as the rest of the world has over time.
To explain a little more, let’s come back to our original point above about the need for survival. Our brain prioritizes survival, and this is an innate process embedded deep within us. As far back as pre-historic days, the most important process of the brain was to keep you safe. It was constantly searching for danger in the environment around you. If the brain didn’t keep you alive, well how would we have evolved as a species into the intelligent humans that we are now?
In olden times, if a bear appeared next to you in the jungle – your body would go into shock. Your mind would have the options of fight, flight, or freeze. You’ve probably heard this before, and it’s how your brain is programmed to keep you alive.
The problem comes when we fast forward thousands of years to where we are now. I assume that many of us are not fending for our lives from bears and lions in the wilderness anymore. Although if you are, kudos to you. Keep it up, my jungle friends! Because our brain is still trying to run this script of code that is ancient technology, it hasn’t quite figured out how to adapt to the chaos of today. Science, technology, and infrastructure has shaped faster than our minds ever will be able to do. So, unfortunately, this leaves YOU as the only person who can train and prepare your mind for today’s problems. Lucky for you, there’s plenty of resources on the internet, in libraries, and here on our blog.
Anxiety is an alarm system
When your phone or clock buzzes in the morning, we know that you hit snooze a few times … and that’s okay! Anxiety functions in a similar way to this alarm that we are all used to. Some of the symptoms of anxiety are quicker breathing, faster heart rate, pain in your chest, panic attacks, intrusive or spiraling thoughts, and your logic system shutting off. This results in you being less logical and much more vulnerable and emotional. When you feel some of these indicators and start to think that you are having anxiety, stop there. Think to yourself why you would be feeling anxious and see if you can pinpoint the problem. This can be an extremely difficult process, so keep with it. The same way that it took falling off your bicycle with training wheels as a kid a few times to learn how to ride a bike applies here.
Learning new habits and processes are not easy and you must be patient. Practice writing down your thoughts and feelings when you feel anxious. Observe your environment and see if something has changed recently to cause an alarm bell within you. Maybe you are fast approaching a work deadline and your co-workers keep wanting to talk about their weekend plans. Politely tell them that you are busy and need to get a lot of work done. Even better, ask them for help with your deadline!
You are not broken
Every single person on this planet has a similar brain structure and processes that you do. Although, our upbringing and phases of life do reshape how we think, believe, and the knowledge we hold. Anyone on this Earth can have anxiety or depression, even freaking President Joe Biden himself. No one can escape the importance of mental health and wellness. This is a very important piece of the puzzle – remember that you are not broken. You do not have to be isolated, alone, and you are also not the only one who is hurt. Look around you to the people you know, and even strangers on the street, everyone is struggling in different ways.
Look at COVID-19 as a historic example. Many, many people lost their jobs or their homes overnight. Factories and corporations shut down at the drop of a hat. If you were not prepared for any of this to happen, your world was probably shaken upside down – like many of us. One of the only things we can positively say that came out of the COVID pandemic is that mental health has been given a wonderful spotlight across news networks and social media.
Counseling therapy is important
The word therapy itself means, “treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.” The reality is that many of us are trying to pay the bills, have family, and just enjoy life. To do this, especially when mental health conditions appear within you, you need to get educated about this stuff. The great thing about counselors and therapists are that they can help you understand yourself, your mind, your trauma, and the brain very well. You don’t even have to get a college degree yourself to learn this wizardry!
A counselor is basically a life coach who is in your corner rooting for you. They have years of psychology education, training and experience of various mental health conditions that you might have and can guide you through the dark when you need it the most. Get a counselor in your corner, even if they cost a lot for their help. Research your local area, and great resources online like BetterHelp.com. Often, you can get discounts through insurance and free session credits through EAP (Employee Assistance Program) if your job offers this.
Community is crucial to you
I am willing to admit right away that I suck at this one. I don’t have very many friends, and I have pushed away or outgrown a large part of the people who used to be in my life. These have been my own personal choices, and I have walked through the solitude that this can often bring with it. I am saying this to encourage others of you to realize that we are all human and make mistakes. Some of us are not very social and have to learn new skills to make friends.
A large part of building community around you is healing through your own personal trauma. You certainly don’t have to do this alone. This why counselors, therapists, family, and friends are there for you. It is difficult for any of us to hold the world on our shoulders and not to let the weight crush us slowly.
As far back as science has been able to find, people have lived in communities. A large group of people would band together to create a tribe, and they would settle down in a practical area or travel together to new environments. If you always keep your mental woes trapped in your head, they will not have a healthy place within this world. Forming community allows us to discuss our problems together, lean on each other’s strengths, and to increase our chances of survival.
Medicine helps in times of need
Medicine often has a bad reputation, especially when it comes to scary words like anti-psychotics and anti-depressants. Those words are enough to scare even a child away from taking these kinds of medicines. Not to mention that medicines can be extremely expensive and difficult to get prescribed in the first place. Regardless of crappy health care and other related issues, medicine does exist as a last resort, or even a supplemental way to aid you. There’s nothing “bad” with taking medicine, especially when it does genuinely help you.
Drop the stigma and contact your general doctor, or a psychiatrist. The way that I like to explain medicine when it comes to mental health is that it can snip the strings of the heavy load that you are carrying around with you. Once it snips the strings, you can combine all of the other above processes (and new skills from counseling) to help you become successful.
NAMI and Other Internet Resources:
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a very important resource for mental health. You probably have noticed a few of the infographics I have placed on this blog, and they have all come from NAMI. They do magnificent research around mental health and work with health professionals from all over the world to help us fix this ongoing mental health crisis many of us face today.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is another wonderful resource surrounding mental health. Government money helps aid this company with doing research, providing resources, and helping those in need – regardless of the problem.
Call 911 if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, or go to the nearest emergency room.
Call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor, who are available 24-hours a day when you need them most.
There are plenty of other resources out there, but these are a few of the most important that I have seen available for anyone to use.
The bottom line … YOU are worth being well
The funny thing is that if you look back up at the top of this blog, I was talking about the ways that success is measured in society. A few of these being long hours in the workplace, success in your career ladder, and even the freaking expensive car that you own. These are the things that society, TV, banks, and corporations want you to believe are important. So, maybe it’s time that you start putting what is important in front of you first. I’ll help you with this. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and everywhere else with the buttons below:
Our messages are always open, and we welcome anyone who needs help. That is the whole reason that we do this thing.
No Place Like Gone is a playground for documenting our travels, adventures, and educating everyone that we can reach with the knowledge that we are able to learn from around the world. We want your life to be high quality, and full of what you love the most. We want you to wake up in the morning always smiling for a new day. From my mind to yours, let me pour my insight into you. My name is Matt, and I thank you for reading my blog today. Good blessings to you all, my friends.
Below are the infographic files from NAMI that have been used in this blog. Feel free to download them for yourself to send to your loved ones or anyone who needs these resources:
Below are other similar blogs that we have written:
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