Happy May and happy Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health is extremely important to me. I’ve struggled with my mental health for a long time, and although I am in a great place right now, I still have the occasional hard day. Today I am sharing some mental health lessons I have learned and am working on practicing in my life.
Beautiful and Brutal
I know some of you may be in a hard season of life right now. While my words can’t take away your pain, I want you to know that I see you. Your struggles and pain are real. Life can be really dang hard, but please remember this is just one season of your life. I don’t say that to minimize what you are going through, but to share from my personal experience.
As author Glennon Doyle says, life is brutiful — beautiful and brutal. Seasons of our lives tend to lean toward one end of the spectrum. So if you are experiencing the brutal side of life, please hang in there. Life will be beautiful again. It won’t always be, because none of us come out of life unscathed, but there are beautiful moments coming your way, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.
If you or someone you know is struggling to hold on, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.
We Belong to Each Other
Although we are only a few days into May, I am really blown away by how many posts I’ve seen on social media for Mental Health Awareness Month. I don’t think these posts are performative — most of us have had mental health struggles in our lives. Seeing these posts reminded me of the graphic below. I wish I knew who the author was so I could credit them. It’s such a powerful visual.
The quantity of posts reinforces something that I am trying to work on in my own life, which is giving people the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think many people start their day with the intention of being hurtful. Someone may speak or act in a way that sparks immediate judgment or resistance in us. Instead of reacting or making assumptions, take a moment to pause.
The way we perceive the actions of others may have nothing to do with their intentions. Sure, some people can be flat-out mean or hurtful, but most of us aren’t coming from a bad place. Let us remember that what we see on the outside is vastly different from what they are experiencing on the inside. Giving others grace is something I will always be working on, and when I feel that resistance within me, I come back to the saying “We belong to each other.”
We are all much more alike than we are different. It may not feel true, especially with how polarizing the past few years have been, but it is. At the end of the day, we are all human. We all want to be seen, heard, and loved. Let us treat each other with respect and give one another the benefit of the doubt. As Ram Dass said, “We are all just walking each other home.”
Thank you for reading and being here.
Morgan