Hello there, It’s Wednesday!! Our thorough observations, analysis, and open conversations tell us that mental health for us should be as important and a priority as having a fracture, fever, loose motion, or many others. The issue with us majorly neglecting or not prioritizing our mental health and wellness is that we don’t know if there are any problems because they don’t have tangible symptoms like fever, fractures, or loose motion. That’s where it is extremely important for us to “be in constant touch with ourselves.”
For example, it’s easy to find out if you are having a fever through a thermometer 🌡️ or feeling hotter than usual when we touch anyone. Similarly, a fracture 🦴 is visible as a broken bone or it is inducing physical pain. These are easily noticeable traits because they cause a lot of discomfort and disturbance in our ability to function properly, and for that reason, we prioritize them.
However, in mental health, it is difficult to decide and conclude in case there are any disturbances due to a lack of these easily accessible tools and techniques. Knowing this, the question arises: if this is the situation, then how do we know if any corrective, or interventive measures are needed?
The answer is in the first line “Be in constant touch with ourselves”! When you are in constant touch, you will be able to see all the changes that occur, and it becomes one’s responsibility to take conscious note of and keep track of them. This by default brings you to be more aware of your mental health as a whole, your emotional regulation, being in therapy with yourself as part of self care and so forth.
Now that we have established the need of feeling, knowing and tracking changes in ourselves for our sound mental health, let’s understand the signs you get from yourself telling you to prioritize your mental wellbeing.
We will start establishing the signs for the most commonly used terms in mental health, which are stress, anxiety, and depression, and rope them into our daily experiences and routines to understand them in a relatable way:
- Let’s wake up: Do you wake up fresh or even after a good amount of sleep (suggested 7–8 hours)? 🙂 Do you feel tired and restless? It is very common to not be fresh and also to be fresh when you wake up! Let’s understand this.
- If you are waking up regularly with full energy and freshness, but there are only a few times when you are restless due to the “hectic plan” that you are aware of, there is no issue at all—we all go through it, and it’s completely healthy.
- But, in case you are restless, have low energy levels, have no good feeling, or have disturbed sleep, it continues as a pattern for a longer time (42 or 63 days, for example). It is a sign that something is disturbed, and it is a wise person’s decision to find the root cause and solve it!
- Not having proper sleep could be a sign of too much stress or anxiety. Also, if you have destructive thoughts or feel constant sadness while not getting enough sleep, then it might be a sign of depression too.
- And these are all curable with right mental health care and guidance. You just have to take the initiative to explore yourself and find solutions!
- Let’s look at our thoughts and behavior: We think of our fantasies, dreams, grudges, fears, scary things, and whatnot! The existence of all these thoughts is normal, and they will reflect on your behavior too 😀. As we know, “Change is the only constant.” Any of these thoughts staying constant is again a sign. Let’s elaborate on it.
- All the above thoughts and others that are not mentioned are necessary, and these are also our drivers for achieving what we want to.
- But, the existence of any thought is constant, which is an issue. As humans or living beings, we should experience all different thoughts, which in turn drive our behavior. If you are constantly happy, you will overlook a lot of potential issues due to the shift in your behavior that develops a lack of ability to experience or foresee risky events as it is overshadowed by happy thoughts. And when that happens, we shatter or burst! 🌋 Similarly, a constant sad thought drives you to destructive behavior.
- It may keep you from going to school or work, avoiding tasks, procrastinating on important things or many other things.
- If this is happening, let’s speak about it and seek help.
- Let’s fuel up. (Eat our favorite food): We all crave and eat meals 😋 🫕 that we love and should. If you fuel yourself with the food that you love, it makes you grow healthier and happier. But instead, have you felt that now you gain weight from the same loved food that earlier was fueling your happiness? Let’s understand this.
- If you are eating whatever you like—slow cooked, rightly cooked, fast food and you have a perfect metabolism to churn the required energy, stay healthy, and burn the unnecessary fats, 😀 it is perfect, and do share your way that can help others.
- But if you are experiencing unusual weight, shape, and growth changes with your body, then it’s not just physiological but also psychological shifts that you should look at.
- The biggest reason for these changes in current times is stressful life. We all have stress in our lives, and it’s necessary too, but directing and using this stress in a productive way is the way forward you should figure out through our community and mental health care. No shame, no judgment, no fear!
- Let’s talk about emotional outbursts: We have multiple emotions, and we all feel them in our daily lives. It may be happiness 🙂, sadness 😞, anger 😡, joy gratitude, guilt, and so forth. These are all an EXTREMELY important part of our daily routine, and it’s necessary to feel these and more emotions, but let’s understand the switches, fluctuations, or continued or overwhelmed situations.
- If you are going through all or a few throughout the day or at any time of the day, or even the fluctuation in it is also normal without being hurtful to anyone, it is the best life you are living. We suggest bringing this stability to the known and unknown people around you so that other lives can learn and be in such a sound state of mental health.
- But when these emotional shifts become a long standing pattern of outbursts, it is a concern. For example, feeling always happy, sad, angry, or grateful, or regularly having an instant switch or pattern of reaching the peak of your emotions whenever you feel it is a sign of some malfunction in your life that’s affecting your mental stability.
- These outbursts might hurt you, your loved ones, or any stranger. This is the time when you seek a way from a mental health professional to find out the issue, address it, or support someone who you think is having such a challenge!
Let’s continue this and conclude defining signals in Part 2 of “Cracking the Code: Mental Health vs. Fever/Fracture/Loose Motion—Know Your Signs! 😂😞😡😀
Post that, we shall deep dive into each issue that you see around you. The issues that don’t have a thermometer 🌡️ to get instant answers if someone has a fever (shaky mental health) or not!
