Mind Your Mind

Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!

As a Mom Blogger, I would be remiss to not bring up Mental Health Awareness Month. You know the old expression, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”? If you’ve been alive on Planet Earth for any decent amount of time, you know how true this statement is. We all affect each other energetically, but the Matriarch of the family especially does, because most likely she handles the important stuff. She bears the mental load of the whole crew. Her mental state has the heaviest of influences on everyone else in the house. If she isn’t regulating her emotions (or doesn’t even know how), then her kids are not learning how to regulate theirs. Moms set the tone to basically everything. To me, this is one of the largest responsibilities of Motherhood, and I don’t take it lightly. (I’ve also got to include here that I am not a professional, just a fellow Mom, and none of what I say should be taken as medical advice. Take only what resonates with you, and don’t forget that grain of salt. ‘Kay, good.)

I am super grateful to be living in a time where people have begun to take mental health seriously. Therapy is no longer stigmatized, or at least it’s significantly less so. My generation (I’d call myself an Xennial) and the ones following us have boldly taken on the task of cycle breaking. I really believe this a huge step in the right direction for humanity. And treating mental health as seriously as physical health is crucial.

And this doesn’t necessarily mean that every single person on the planet needs to be seeing a shrink on the regular. Much like with physical health, different things work for different people. We each have the responsibility to work on ourselves and find what fits. And as parents, we have to do those things for our kids until they can do it themselves.

We also cannot ignore the connection between the different aspects of our being—our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels of health are all inextricably connected. Our bodies are the canvases on which the rest of ourselves are displayed. One thing that changed my life completely was reading a book by Louise Hay (I don’t even remember which one at this point, but several of her works include this) where she created a chart listing physical symptoms, the emotional/thought pattern affecting them, and affirmations to help. I’m not sure where any of my books are that have this list, but fortunately we have this thing called the internet, so if you’re curious about seeing it, you can find it here.

I haven’t been hiding my own mental health struggles for the past few years, and that’s been an important part of getting better. Right now, I’m doing better than I have been in a long time. Talking to someone, whether a trusted friend or family member or a professional, is an absolute must. We women are sometimes so good at pretending to have it all together that no one else realizes it when we’re actually falling apart. And you can’t get help without asking for it. There’s no shame in it—in fact, anyone who tries to make you feel shame for it is not someone you need in your life. Know who your safe people are.

Prioritizing your mental health is not selfish. You deserve to be in a healthy state. Your family deserves to have you in a healthy state. If you’re not there, start taking steps to figure out how to get there. That’s my gentle challenge for you this month. You are worthy, I promise.

I’m going to include links to a few Substack posts that I’ve found particularly helpful of late. Maybe they’ll resonate with you, as well. I just want to remind you that it’s ok to not be ok, but on the flip side, you’re the only one who can get yourself back to ok (and then better than ok).

9 Signs You're Not Depressed. You're Depleted.

When Your Throat Finally Stops Protecting Everyone From What Your Body Already Knows

Thank you for reading. I so appreciate you! I’ll be back on Monday with more Momlife Memes. Much love to you.