Let’s talk about good mental health

Whenever we think about the term mental health, the first thing that comes into mind for a lot of people are terms such as illness, anxiety and depression. More generally, there are lots of negative words associated with the term mental health, and when we talk about mental health as a society, more often than not we talk about bad mental health. However, bad mental health isn’t the only thing that we should talk about, and I certainly feel that we should think about mental health in a more positive way by talking about good mental health. Good mental health is a broad term, and some refer it to feeling positive and being able to live your life as fully as possible. In this article, I talk about good mental health, why it’s important and ways that will help you improve your mental health.

Before I specifically talk about good mental health, I first want to make it clear that just like physical health, mental health is something that effects every single one of us. The term mental health is so broad and encompasses lots of different things, therefore even if you aren’t struggling with your mental health at this moment, it doesn’t mean that the topic of mental health is less important to you. As a society, we need to appreciate that the topic of mental health is relevant to everyone. Whilst statistics such as the fact that mental disorders affect one in four people in the UK may be accurate, it shouldn’t be mistaken for saying that the topic of mental health is only relevant for one in four people in the UK. Making this mistake will mean that we will be talking about mental health in the wrong way, and that we don’t have a good understanding of the topic of mental health.

Good mental health as something that is extremely important and an asset. In my opinion, good mental health underpins every part our life, from lifestyle to career to relationships. This is because good mental health and wellbeing can help a person grow and cope with change and uncertainly. I am sure that all of us wants to become the best version of ourselves, as this will make our lives more fulfilling and rewarding. Good mental health will help you significantly in becoming the best version of yourself in every aspect of life. Reframing the mind and associating the term mental health with positive things and trying to bring these positive things into your life can do wonders, although this is easier said than done, and something that won’t happen overnight.

It’s therefore essential that we try our best to prioritise our mental health. In addition to short term strategies, we should also take time to think about long term strategies to help us with our mental health and wellbeing. And these long-term strategies don’t have to be super fancy or require tonnes of effort. We shouldn’t underestimate simple strategies such as getting 8 hours of sleep as often as possible, or surrounding yourself with people that give you positive energy, as these all help with good long-term mental health. These simple strategies are ones we can do most days, even if we are in the middle of an extremely busy schedule. Another thing I think helps with good mental health is having a positive mindset. That doesn’t mean that you have to think positively 24/7, but even things like writing down 3 positive things that happened each day can help a lot with thinking positively, which will help improve your mental health.

It is also worth noting that when I think about good mental health, I don’t think of it as it being the complete opposite of poor mental health. This is because having good mental health doesn’t mean that life is perfect and there can still be days where you feel stressed or overwhelmed. Furthermore, good mental health doesn’t come with the absence of problems, and it’s more about the ability to deal with problems and challenges. It is impossible to feel happy and confident 100% of the time, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have good mental health if you feel sad sometimes. In addition to this, good mental health will mean different things to different people, and there is no such thing like a perfect definition of good mental health. For me, I consider myself to have good mental health if I am able to do things that allow me to become the best version of myself, and if I can cope well with challenges that are presented to me.

Even though mental health is an everyday topic, there is one big misconception that people have of good mental health. This is that people think that the terms mental health and mental illness are almost interchangeable, and if you have a mental illness like anxiety or OCD, then you have bad mental health, and vice versa. That is far from the case, and it is possible that people with mental illnesses have strong mental health, if they can manage their mental illness well. Alternatively, even without a mental illness, circumstances can arrive that take a hit on your mental health, for example a career setback. In short, mental illness is usually a diagnosed condition, and mental health is a state of wellbeing, and these are two different things. The reason why I want to bring up this misconception is that if we aren’t clear of the difference between the terms mental health and mental illness, we will struggle in making progress when it comes to raising awareness of the topic of mental health. Furthermore, if we are to talk about good mental health, which is what this blog post is about, we shouldn’t judge someone’s mental health purely based on whether they have a mental illness or not.

This blog post was done to talk about mental health in a positive way, and discuss a bit about good mental health. The more we can talk about mental health in a positive way, the happier we can be. Good mental health can lead to extremely fulfilling lives, but it is important to reflect on things we can all do to look after our mental health, especially in these challenging times.