Life is a long road of self discovery, stimulated by our environment, we process our experiences and facilitate our self realization. But its not a smooth road, as it can get bumpy with unexpected u-turns and unforeseen events along the way. A person who is a mental health sufferer faces the magnified burden in the process of unraveling his own personality. It’s a constant battle to pull himself out of an emotional rut, normalize himself and to carry on with his routines of life.
There are several ways in which we can equip ourselves to curb out these hindrances which come in the form of self intimidation, self hatred, negative thought process and eventually a seemingly unsolvable darkness. Get rid of the impersonal emotional clutter. I usually read online and hear people say that,”Surround yourself with positive people”. It sounds a little overrated at times as its such a heterogeneous social setting that we are a part of and it sometimes become hard to filter out the positive people and place them around ourselves. But if one is self aware of his mental condition then unnecessary emotional baggage which is sometimes put in the form of extended complaints, whining chatter , should be blocked out.
The negative thought process that is ongoing in one’s mind is not a self initiated thing as most of the times, it has a deeply rooted social connection. Don’t hush the negative voice which is bugging you as it keeps on getting louder if not addressed or recognized on time. Prevention will only be possible if one takes notice of it. If a person with mental health condition internalize the social stigma and starts to agree with the stereo types associated with his treatment, it will only make it difficult for him to speak up and inform the people around him of his mental condition. In a state of anxiety or depression, the outside complexities are exaggerated in one’s mind but the realization of the importance of mental health facilitates a person. So find ways to educate people around you about the mental health awareness by quoting examples of mental health survivors, paving way for yourself to come out and seek help.
Choose your confidantes in the form of a close friend or sibling, or a parent as the process of building up a positive attitude towards oneself. Refrain from negative self talk as sometimes a person keeps on replaying the bad moments over and over again in his head and ends up beating himself up for humanly errors. Our self worth might be degraded superficially by testing circumstances but it’s a constant variable that should be revamped by indulging into healthy, creative pursuits, conditioning internal validation and feeling good about oneself. The process might be time taking and there is a constant toil involved but if we focus on the light at the end of the tunnel, then the journey towards it seems all worth it.
The author Khushbakht Jawaid is a survivor. She is a former teacher, mother of two and a freelance event manager. Her resilience and courage is inspirational.