You Are Worthy Of Help

We all have mental health, most of us just decide not to talk about it

Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week and I would like to share some valuable thoughts and messages in the following article.

We all have problems.

We all struggle sometimes.

We are all going through difficult periods in our lives.

It seems to be deeply ingrained in many of us that we are “strong enough” to handle difficulties on our own. We are reluctant to ask for help or to accept help.

From a fairly young age, I had acknowledged that I was struggling, but I didn’t believe my problems were big, significant, or important enough to seek help.

It so happened that I reached a point where I buckled under the stress and broke down.

If We Only Treated Our Mental Health Like Our Physical Health

We go to the doctors for check-up appointments. We do this, because we try to prevent ourselves from ending up with physical health problems.

But do we do the same for our mental health?

I certainly didn’t.

The first time I went to see a therapist I felt like my life was ripped in pieces and I had to accept that it would take me a significant amount of time and hard work to put them back in place again.

In hindsight, I wished I had started counseling earlier because I realised that I could have saved myself from a lot of pain.

I doubt that anyone would put off going to the doctors after they had broken their arm, just to see whether it would heal by itself.

I believe that’s because there seems to be a lot less shame attached to a broken arm than to a ‘broken’ mind.

One valuable lesson I learned is that our bodies and our minds are equally important. They both need maintenance. And the earlier we intervene when we detect an issue, the easier we can heal.

Everyone Deserves Help

I compared myself a lot.

Living in a country with social welfare I found it even harder to accept that I was facing some internal struggles.

I thought it was wrong to feel that way while many people on this planet didn’t even have enough food or a home to live in!

I felt privileged and therefore didn’t believe that I was worthy of help. I was reluctant to talk about my problems telling myself that my situation wasn’t ‘that bad’ after all.

This is the danger of comparison.

Because when we are facing any form of emotional distress, regardless of our circumstances, our status or privileges, we still need help!

I am therefore hoping that this message will reach the people, who need to hear this right now:

You are not alone.

Your problems matter.

You are worthy of help.

If you are interested to read more, here are some other articles on the topics of mental health and wellbeing.