It is an incredibly strange time for most of the world’s population to be alive. For me and others that fight for our mental health wellness every second of every day – this is just Wednesday. I am trying to remember that this “new normal” is scary for everyone, but especially so for the people that don’t think 27 moves ahead. The ones that don’t plan for every possible outcome, the people that don’t understand how draining this hypervigilance is; I am trying to be sympathetic to their frustrations and fears; I am. But, I see the memes and jokes, and while I realize these are coping mechanisms, I still find myself frustrated.
It took a global pandemic for some people even to understand a tiny sliver of what life is like for people like me. People that SEE, HEAR, and FEEL EVERYTHING. How sometimes, we can not stop crippling anxiety from washing over us. We have been through Hell and spend the rest of our days trying to avoid that kind of pain again.
I hope that those who before 2020 had no sympathy and no way to empathize with people like us can take a pause and remember what they felt during this crisis and let it change them. I hope that it allows them to grow and accept that we all have different coping skills. We all have monsters that we battle.
I hope the jokes and memes continue to help them deal with all of the emotions that are so very new to them. But, more than that, I hope they develop a deeper understanding of what people like us go through every day, pandemic or not. I hope they can get through this without having a mental illness follow them around for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile, if you need help – reach out. Mental wellness can be a struggle on the best of days. There is no shame in needing some support. Asking for help can be incredibly hard. You can get through this, we all can.
– World Health Organization Mental Health
– World Federation for Mental Health
– United for Global Mental Health
– Movement for Global Mental Health
– NAMI.ORG
– Mental Health America