Here’s to a Mentally Healthy 2017
By: Bee Martinez and Nick Ma
A handy resource to keep around whenever things seem to be getting out of hand for you or for someone you care about.
If you’re interested in writing for us, pitch us at join.ifme@gmail.com! We welcome anonymous submissions too.
A new year comes with its fair share of impositions and expectations — some coming from within, some coming from those close to us, and some coming from society. We get it. This is not meant to be another imposition, but a handy resource to keep around whenever things seem to be getting out of hand for you or for someone you care about.
Allyship
Surround yourself with people that accept you, who make an active effort to understand you, and who care for you. Pay it forward and be that person for someone else. This kind of bond is not exclusively born from sympathy, but from empathy.
It’s not always family and friends. You may find someone at work or school who shares your experiences and is willing to listen and offer a helping hand when you ask for it.
Find a Support Group
In-person or online support groups are excellent ways to share your thoughts, feelings, and mental health experiences with like minded individuals in a safe space and without any fear of judgement.
If you’re not ready to share, that’s perfectly ok. You can listen and perhaps be inspired by someone else or share advice. You can be an ally to someone else.
Support groups break down the stigmas associated with mental health by proving that each person is more than diagnosis and that we are stronger when we work together.
Know your Triggers and Moments
Identify your triggers — the words, situations, people, or reactions that elicit trauma. In opposite, identify the moments that are a source of positive reinforcement. Understanding these prepares you to react in healthy ways to all of the unpredictable moments life throws at us. Through this understanding, we can build strategies to help us succeed at every step of the way.
Develop a Strategy
Strategies give us a battle plan to combat our triggers. That’s why we should keep them close and accessible, so that they can be utilized as soon as possible.
Your support network, through allies and support groups, can also help share strategies with you that you can customize to suit your needs. For instance, you can develop your own strategy to perform mindfulness and journalling.
Get Help
Whether you have a family history of mental illness or have experienced trauma recently, don’t hesitate to speak up to those you trust and get help.
Help can come in the form of talking to an ally, seeking mental health treatment, or joining a support group. Whatever help means for you, always remember that you are never alone. Nothing great was built by one person — let others help you build the best version of yourself.
Join if-me.org
Join if-me.org and become part of a safe and private community that encourages to share mental health experiences. Get the support you need through our Groups feature. Share the people, places, things, and events that have an impact on you to your allies through our Moments feature. Share and develop your own Strategies to achieve your desired state of mind and practice self-care. Set up reminders to perform your strategies and take your medication.
As always, acknowledge that you are doing the best you can and keep at it. You are worth so much, and your feelings and emotions are real and valid. You are important. You are deserving of the best possible care.
So, bookmark this article and send it to someone who might need it!
May 2017 be the year of you.
Remember that by just texting HELLO to 741741 from anywhere in the USA, you can get help from Crisis Text Line.
