Good morning everyone,
Hope you’re having a lovely start to the week 🙂
Every November is Male Mental Health Awareness Month, a special occasion designed to tackle stigmas and encourage much-needed conversations in the mental health space. With this in mind, we are going to be taking a look at why this month is so important in today’s blog.
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*64% of British people put on a brave face to avoid talking about their mental health. Of this, 69% of 16–24-year-olds and 72% of 25-34-year-olds surveyed reported the above, highlighting the scale of this issue and why raising more awareness around mental health is so crucially important in the modern world.
Our mental health impacts us all in its own way as we progress through our lives, shaping us into the people that we are. Our mental health incorporates our passions and interests, failures and successes, past behaviours and lessons learnt, our relationships with friends + family and so much more.
When I was 17, I was diagnosed with severe anxiety, depression, and PTSD episodes. It was an incredibly challenging time, and I didn’t fully understand what I was going through. I knew what it was like to feel stressed, however, for things that were this big of a task to address, I didn’t have a clue about what I was going to do.
Thankfully, I received fantastic support from my counsellor, gradually starting the healing process and learning what was really going on inside of my head. It wasn’t an easy obstacle to overcome by any means, and one of the realities that I learnt along the way is that understanding and processing my mental health isn’t a “one and done” kind of thing, it’s a continuous journey that joins you on your adventure through life.
Over the last couple of years, I have learnt such a lot about myself, and while I still have a long way left to go, this is not something that I want to rush. I want to keep progressing down this path, uncovering more as I feel comfortable and in a position where I am ready to move forward. I strive to be as open as possible with my content, using my story to inspire more tangible action in this area.
We all face our own challenges in life, but what matters most is how we react and process those difficult situations. Together we can make a difference; encouraging these conversations and supporting each other wherever we can.
If you do feel like you need extra support, please do reach out, help is always available if you need it 💙
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!
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