Do you often think to yourself that you shouldn’t be feeling the way you do, or find it hard to understand why someone else’s mental health is so affected?
You may see a person change their behaviour or mindset, especially this year and hear that they are struggling with their mental health. Maybe you or they have been managing simply fine until the pandemic came and now are finding life a lot more challenging.
Firstly, life has changed for many of us, so it is absolutely not surprising that you feel the way you do. Accept that this is a normal emotional response to change and uncertainty. Try not to feel alone or think that you shouldn’t be feeling like this, we all have mental health.
Here are some of the key triggers within life that can move us from our steady path and mentally healthy state of mind…
Loss of a loved one (even pets)
Losing job/redundancy
Breakdown of a relationship/heartbreak
Relationships are argued to be one of the most motivational factors in life.
Victim of crime or violence
Being in an accident or seeing one
Being involved in war and battle
Medical diagnosis
Birth of a child
Financial debts/pressures
Child abuse or neglect
Bullying
Caring for a loved one with ill health
Think of how many of these you have experienced in your lifetime. Now ask yourself how many you may be facing at the current time in your life. The more of them that you have been exposed to or are going through, the more emotional pressure can build up and start to affect our mood, anxiety, or our ability to work and socialise.
So, if this is the case, for example, redundancy and financial pressure, it is important to talk to someone that can listen and take some timeout for self-care as an importance.
Many people I have spoken to over the last 6 months have been between two extremes, either too much time on their own or due to homeschooling, and potentially both parents working from home, have been left with no time to themselves to process their emotions and switch off.
When our habitual routine of life changes then of course our mental health can move from positive to not so good within just a few days. If there is underlying past trauma, then changes to our routine can retrigger behaviours associated with those previous experiences.
It’s good to notice the signs and get help or take steps to recover to a healthier balance as soon as possible. If this does start to resonate with you it is good to remember that there are many things you can do to start to feel better and prevent your mental health from getting worse.
If you think you may be experiencing anxiety or stress then here is an article written about the subject.
The Modern Mind Group are emotioneering human performance not engineering it. As a learning and performance consultancy, we work with your business to identify and improve performance gaps so that you can be more profitable and professionally develop your people. Over 10 years of expertise in learning and performance with results to back it all up. Why settle for the average when there is a world of possibility when you know how to achieve it? Untapped potential - Let's go get it!