Mental Health Awareness

Today I wanted to discuss something very important to me as an individual and something I feel should be spoken more about with clarity. It is a concept that has been underrated and hasn't had the power to influence many to feel okay about suffering with it. Mental Health Awareness; is a topic I want to elaborate on and will attempt in a few paragraphs as opposed to a 40-minute youtube video to elongate the simple details that are not known to many people, or spoken about enough.

Mental Health has always been around and has been classified as a 'very common' illness. However instead of the understanding what mental health entails, a few people want to feel overwhelmed by the empowerment that people who suffer from mental illness try to portray. For an instance; I know people whom I have come across, who suggest that mental illnesses are a hoax, "is being exaggerated for no reason", they think to believe that some who suffer from any mental illness try to portray being an over-confident, show-off, or drama queen and hence refrain themselves by going to the depths of how serious this is. Even to this day, it's known to be a 'common' illness as defined by general practitioners whom I have known. However currently is being enforced with an increase, it is thankfully being more positively acknowledged globally, and I feel very strongly when talking about emphasising the illness to the level it rightly deserves, and to try and appreciate speaking about it vocally to increase the number of people becoming aware of it. On a positive note, this has been happening a lot more in current times, and I am very happy and proud of the fact.

Speaking about the bright side, I am glad and relieved now that mental health has been recognised as an illness for the past 10 or so years, I know and can say from experience that many people didn't think of anxiety, depression, bipolar, or any similar disease to be associated with the term - 'illness', and thought it is just a figment of the act. I once heard from someone a few years back when they didn't believe this person was ill, the following "Oh don't be silly, you're just making excuses, and creating drama." I've also heard " relax, calm down, its only anxiety it'll pass in no time, I don't know why you're being so weak", and yes before you think I'm lying about these statements, no, they are indeed fully true, and I have to admit the someone that these things have been said to, are in fact - me. These statements were wildly shouted at me, and I have been accused fo falsely trying to be 'ill' to get off from certain things. Yup!

Why do people feel afraid about putting across their opinions, or speaking about mental illness? Why do we have to shy away from the topic itself, is it that embarrassing? Just because of it being associated with the term - mental? I find that so disregarding and appalling, I wish it to be more accepted worldwide and discussed correctly for the welfare and well being of others both suffering and not suffering. Talking about illnesses I want to also mention that when we are ill, we try to understand the illness or the disease, determine and diagnose what the fundamentals are of the disease including the symptoms and the other fine details. However, when the brain itself is not able to function in a way you once we're able to and how others are still able to think when that thinking is now not yours anymore, it's in the reverse setting, it's muddled; confused; disturbed, your mind illustrated a process that you never knew you could have. It completely takes over everything you do, it overpowers you, you drive into an overthinking machine, it whirls you up and down. The biggest fault in this is, that after diagnosing the illness, we are not able to cure it, we are not able to apply ointment or antiseptic, or use paracetamol to recover from the pain we go through. It's all there in the mind, in the brain, in the head but how do you recover that, when what you think from -(being the brain) is itself not able to think?! How do you treat the inevitable, the invisible?

Talking about aims and objectives, what have we learnt, what have we discovered? I'll break it down in a few simple specific points;

- remember to know it okay to not feel okay - everyone has bad days, and no one is always happy or perfect, if that's the case then the world be a farce

- just breathe; inhale and exhale - look for the positive in life, even from negative people, so they don't leave an impact on you

- set an aim or a goal you want to achieve either for today or the next whole year

- talk, talk and talk again, talking to anyone or even yourself is a matter of improvement and will help aid any burden or emotional feelings you cannot control any other way

- focus on yourself and love yourself, do what you want and what makes you happy, even if it allows you to sleep 18 hours for that one day in the week so you can have some rest, some time for yourself

- take care of yourself, put yourself first - got for a walk, and get some fresh air at the same time, look at animals or go for a run whilst listening to a song and punching your arms in the air, whatever works for you

- don't let yourself be influenced by others, don't let others dictate your life, your the driver in the car, you are in charge, you live the way you desire!

- cry, if it makes you feel better - write down your feelings - laugh out loud, let the vibrations of your beautiful laughter resonate with the world, it deserves to know how beautiful you are inside and out

- get a pet?

- one day at a time, always

...... there are so many more, but I won't bore you with a whole page or more, try these out first and see how much lighter and happier and peaceful your day will feel! For those whom are like me and are stuck in the unfortunate period of quarantine, and coronavirus obviously, please remind yourself everyone is in the same boat, things will get better, time will heal, and you are doing amazing every day. If you want more motivation about how to feel good at this time or see what I do on a usual day in this current period then please visit my youtube channel and see my recent vlogs - https://www.youtube.com/user/bossybootsize/videos

Things that have helped me include an entire cabinet of ideas, like reading, writing, meditating, music, acting, breathing correctly, and so much more, but I want this opportunity to discuss with you some apps that helped me when I started my journey on self-medicating with natural remedies and home solutions to resolve anxiety. Even though it doesn't cure it, but it does help for that moment, and in that moment that is the roughest and can become a tough task to deal with in sudden and unexpected times. I also want to clarify that anxiety or depression does not string off from being sad, unhappy, unsatisfied or real events. However, I crazily have the most panicky and anxious moments after a couple of weeks of being stressed from a significant something. Stress and particular things may trigger your anxiety, however, it doesn't mean it will occur straight away, this can happen from 1 day to a month afterwards. Anyways not indenting to digress further, I want to show you some apps that helped me, YouTube - there was this doctor on there that I now don't remember however he was great, he helped me and he was the first one who introduced me to ' the breathing technique'. I, in reality, learnt for the first time that to breath is an art, it's an actual form to breathe correctly you have to work for it. So; first you breathe, then inhale through your nostrils and use your stomach to push out, then exhale from the nostrils and pull your stomach back in to normal. The real thing to check where is when you breathe, you should breathe from your stomach, and may people unknowingly unintentionally breathe incorrectly. This helped me in many ways in the anxiety phases. Calm - this app is extremely good and beneficial for when you like to travel or have to travel for work purposes, its' also good for when you can't sleep or are a type of person who likes to hear sounds to feel a little less anxious. Its creates waves and different sounds for you to feel calm and also keeps saying things like breathe, inhale, exhale, and motivates you throughout the programme. The way it is created is very clever and well produced. Affirmations - in general, or the app, both are good to read when you feel a bit off. TheGoodQuote - Instagram, or the app! amazing daily quotes helps motivate you and keeps you going, knowing you're not alone in this battlefield! And lastly BuddaQuotes - the app!

I have been struggling and suffering from anxiety for the past 8 years now, and this is my journey ...

Today I felt ready to talk about my mental health. I’ve been suffering from Generalised Anxiety Disorder for over 7 years now. I remember the day it all started so clearly as if it were yesterday, it started on December 22nd 2013. My sister was at her Christmas Party from work and I was at home with mum. It was coming near 11 Pm when I felt a tingling type of feeling. It was a strange and obnoxious sensation. I felt my heart beating so fast as if it were out of my chest. The rate was so fast that I felt like my heart is going to come to the top of my throat. I felt my pulse beating rapidly within my neck and my chest. I felt the need to call the ambulance but I had to keep a brave face on to comfort my old mum. She gave me as much comfort as she could as she saw my face turning pale and me starting to panic, she witnessed my eyes get bigger and breathing to get faster. But I had to compose. I tried so hard. I thought it was just acidity or a one-off thing. But no this continued every day. Then one day I had to make a doctors appointment, she advised me to maintain a healthy lifestyle, make some blood tests and eat some more veg. I took her advice on board as soon as possible. The next day I went to Tesco’s and brought all the healthy snacks and from then started to work out more. I waited patiently for my blood test results. I then went to the GP again but all she said was that I have nothing wrong with me. She said it must be my lifestyle, and told me to lose weight or to stop stressing. So surprisingly enough I was quite settled with the answer and it gave me a sense of contentment. However, as my change in lifestyle still didn’t differ to a huge extent I thought to search up my symptoms for a clearer explanation. Finally, I found out that I have anxiety, and then I came to know there are two types of anxiety. Mine was Generalised. My next stop was to accept if this is what I have to live with and make it a part of my living. This continued for 4 years. Until one day again I thought to try different therapeutic methods and herbal home remedies. Though neither of this has given my anxiety an end. It has still given me a better way to think about life and helped me approach a positive outlook about myself. It has given me a sense of independence and confidence within myself and has taught me who I am. Hence saying I have anxiety I don’t need to be ashamed of my mental health issue. I proudly accept it and can say it with a clear declaration. The methods I tried through the last three years include - breathing methods, mediation, yoga, not caring about what people think and doing what I feel comfortable with, smiling for no reason to release those endorphins, laughing therapy, listening to YouTube videos about breathing better and the third eye, law of attraction and reading or getting apps to read good quotes every single day first thing. There are many more methods I can name and that I will in details tell you later. But these are the mains that came to my mind first. It’s been 2 years that I have accepted who I am and what I have. And I know how to carry this now for the rest of my life knowing it will always be a part of my existence regardless. I just hear my anxiety buddies on my shoulder now saying things in my ears to make me depressed but now those words don’t affect me. Now those words inspire me and motivate me to kick these anxiety buddies in the ass and to show them I am better. Once you start to know your mind and train your brain to think the way you want to think- positively and seeing the good in everyone and everything. Only then will you feel calm, relaxed and at peace in life with or without having anxiety! Some days used to be heavy and super bad. Then other days used to be okay. And then a few days would be good. But now I tell myself every day is good even if it’s bad. Some days I used to wake up and want to die thinking I can’t breathe or my heart is racing out of my chest and then not wake up at all. I used to go through the phase of permanently wanting to stay at home and having social awkwardness. Not even being able to put my foot outside my doorstep it was that bad. But I trained myself - I told myself if my heartbeat is getting fast then maybe I should run or workout or jump, in fact sometimes I used to even use the reverse psychology method and tell my brain it’s not that fast it’s normal. All these techniques would in fact work and help relax my anxiety. Stressed or not stressed IT doesn’t matter. For me, anxiety just happened. It chose me and that’s it. Another way is to tire yourself out until you want to sleep. Then you won’t feel your anxiety because your brain is tired. It won’t have these baseless thinking ideas or it won’t be empty to think about stupid reasons of why or maybe? Now I’m me again and have accepted what reality is. Be it or not this is how I must live and I am so for it. We are now friends for life, my anxiety and I. And I will show my anxiety about the power of my mind. I won’t feel restless, and I will manifest in whatever tried to break me. It has made me a stronger, braver and better woman. And I want to thank it for that. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Your mind is one powerful weapon, use it wisely, USE IT! Only one thing competes with you and that is your mind. If you understand your mind and try to train to the way you want to then it’ll listen to you and befriend you. Smile, laugh, tease your anxiety, play mind tricks with your mind and then see how magical your mind is and how wonderful the sense of opening your third eye can be. Until next time, next post, stay happy to stay healthy and keep staying alive rather than staying living.

I just want to end this, by saying there are different aspects of mental illnesses, anxiety, depression, bipolar these are just specific names, if your interested and want to be aware please do your research and help yourself and others around you. I also want to finish now on a happy note, I have used many things to help as a source of therapy to improve myself, and am now much better then I was, however, I do sometimes have episodes which are not fun. So if I can do it, you can do it too!! Configure what it is you want and that makes you strong, be brave, and confident in yourself, try not to care as much as yesterday, the rest doesn't matter... Stay happy and positive everyone, I love you so much, and sending a big virtual hug from me and Simba - my cat!