5 Reasons Keeping Your Mental Health to Yourself is OK too.

This is the mental health revolution and honestly, I have spoken a lot about my mental health - including my battles with hypochondria and anxiety, both of which I have been medicated for with varying degrees of success. There are other things that I have been through (and am currently going through) though that I have not shared on this platform, or any other for that matter. There are things I keep to myself and only share with the closest of friends (things I still will not be mentioning here). Often, I am told by others not within the circle that I should share this stuff about my mental health but I don't want to. I have no requirement to and honestly, I get quite upset when coerced and pushed to share everything all the time.

I thought about this long and hard for a while and I have come to the conclusion that there are possibly five very good reasons that you may want, like me, to keep certain aspects of your mental health to yourself. It's actually perfectly fine to do so too.

5 Reasons Keeping Your Mental Health to Yourself is OK too.

1) You're a professional...

Being in a professional job means that sharing things online that could be detrimental to your image are somewhat problematic. You could get fired, you could get demoted and every one of your co-workers could know your business. It gets even messier if you're someone who works with children and teenagers, sharing certain aspects of mental health online could wind up with you being reprimanded for promoting unhealthy behaviours. I would suggest that in this case, keep a journal or talk face to face with a therapist. That way, nothing has screen value and is seen by the whole internet.

2) You have a large friend circle but nobody is really that close, or at least not a lot friends who are really close

Your friendship circles, like mine, may be varied. They cross with different kinds of people but, even though they assure you they are always there, nobody really feels that close to you. I would recommend against sharing anything with friends you 'go down the pub' with - like I do. Instead of this, have one person whether it be a friend or a professional therapist, that you share things with consistently. This way you can not only assure that it isn't going to get out (and if it does, you can trace it back to the source), but you can also track what is going on with that one person. That one person knows all the details and can help with progress.

3) It's complicated...

You may not fully understand what is going on with yourself. Like me, you may be struggling to actually place a reason for why something is happening the way it is inside your mind. I would recommend against oversharing with people and instead to seek out helpful advice from people who have been in the same or similar situations. I'm not saying what my situation is, but it's pretty bad. I tried to see some reasoning by myself via contacting someone who had been through a similar issue and it actually helped my clarity of thinking. If it's complicated and you don't fully know the 'why' then don't overshare because it could get messy for you when tracking progress to go back and see what you previously thought and bring back nasty and unhealthy cycles and practices.

4) You're in 'the dark place'...

I call this point being 'in the dark place' because it is where you are so focused on your issue that you are literally just angry all the time and upset almost constantly. You want to be numb and every movement that anyone makes annoys the living hell out of you. I would suggest that in this instance, don't share anything because you may end up saying something that you really don't want to say. Instead, open a Notes App, or write in a journal about how you're feeling. When you've calmed down a little and had a good cry about it, then come back to the journal and see if you want to share it with that one person (and only one person). It's perfectly okay if you don't.

5) The people around you aren't capable of understanding...

Often I hear things like 'it's bad to think that you've got this on your own...' but sometimes, for some people, that is the best way to go because nobody around them is trustworthy enough to share these things with.

I have one person I regularly tell things to, but otherwise, I keep everything to myself because I cannot possibly imagine sharing anything about my serious mental health issues with my family - it gets dismissed, misunderstood or I am asked to over-explain - all three of which are not healthy for me at all. It's okay that I don't feel like sharing anything with them because I know the people around me aren't capable of understanding such an issue. You have to look at the bigger picture - if the people around you haven't dealt with the issue before, it can be difficult for them to comprehend and you could end up slipping back into unhealthy behaviours because of their prejudice, dismissal or their requirement for everything to be told to them from now on. Do not do this, it isn't healthy. If they cannot understand and you know that then leave them out of it. Even if it's your own mother and father.

Conclusion

In an age of oversharing and social media, there is a lot of pressure to share issues you're having with others, most people you don't even know. Do not get sucked into thinking that the 'wellness' and 'meditation' cultures are the same as having a mental illness. People who do 'wellness' and 'meditation' normally don't have anything really wrong with their mental health and are looking for maintenance. If you are really struggling, you need to seek out professionals, not Instagram pages.

Good luck on your journey to a better, healthier you.