When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: The Aftermath of World Mental Health Day

It’s the Day after Yesterday; the Tomorrow that some probably didn’t think would come — the sun having risen to reveal yet another…

It’s the Day after Yesterday; the Tomorrow that some probably didn’t think would come — the sun having risen to reveal yet another grey-skied autumnal morning.

Yesterday was a Big Day, the world proclaimed — a day so Big (caps necessary to Emphasise This) that it had its own name: World Mental Health Day. No, this was not “just another” mid-October Tuesday; this was An Occasion. Special, different, “sending shockwaves”. And, undoubtedly, this was the case to some extent: it is a truth (relatively) universally acknowledged that mental health issues are (and remain) far more difficult to talk about than their physical counterparts.

So, this is progress. The physical presence of the day itself — and its perceived legitimacy — is a big deal, in spite of the ironies that emerge from this, however inadvertently. Namely: part of the problem is the fact that we have — and need — a day in which it is deemed socially acceptable (and, hey, even encouraged! shock horror) to talk about these things. “These things” being the basis of our human existence, the cornerstone of our perceptual realities, what defines how we live our lives — not mental health *issues* per se, but the concept (and importance) of being, and remaining, mentally healthy in and of itself.

In short: you don’t have to be “mental” to need a little help. All you have to be is human — an affliction that, unfortunately, besets us all.

If we are mentally healthy, we are physically healthier: the two come together. And, implicitly, if we are mentally healthy then we are happier — not all the time, sure, but more often than not. If we are content with who we are, we are able not only take care of ourselves, but others; we are better colleagues, friends, partners — and people. We can love, we can give, and we can accept: we are no longer inhibited.

This — a state of Good Mental Health and Wellbeing — is what too many of us are missing.

But how do we get there? How do we bridge the gap? The disparity between appearances and reality is a source of suffering in and of itself.

The answer? Honesty, of course. “Of course” because, well, what else is there? Every day is, and should be, World Mental Health Day; a day in which people are able to express who and what they are without fear or shame— finding solace not in “misery porn”, but solidarity. Look around: we’re all here.

We all struggle at times. Life is not, and never will be, easy — whoever you are, whatever you have, however things *seem*.

Plot twist: it’s not supposed to be. That old adage about life being ‘about the journey’ rings true — we are most fulfilled when we prove to ourselves that, against all odds, we can make it through.