Mental Health Awareness
Sorry chaps but this week is gonna be a rant
I’m pissed off.
With all the bullshit I read and heard last week.
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50
So what do we tell men who are struggling with their mental health?
Go out for a mindful walk. Talk. Find safe spaces. Be vulnerable.
And then what?
First off we need some proper education. What is poor mental health? What does it look like? What does it feel like? And when we have identified we have poor mental health what to do next. Telling men to talk doesn’t cut it. Telling men to move more doesn’t cut it. Telling men to be vulnerable and seek safe spaces doesn’t f__king cut it!!
As someone who suffered for years with anxiety and depression without realising at the time that’s what I was going through here are some of the signs you might have poor mental health:
That nervous feeling of dread in the Solar plexus for no apparent reason
Can’t get off to sleep, waking up in the night worrying
Worrying about the past or the future
Poor digestion
Muscle tension
Irritability
Frustration
Overthinking
Procrastination
Negative self talk
Low energy
Bad skin (eczema, fungal infections, dermatitis)
You may not have heard that before, and doing 10000 steps wouldn’t have helped you identify that either.
Now what do men want instead of poor mental health? Mental strength. I only read one article that made this point. Men want high performance. To be their best. To reach their potential. Men already talk plenty, I never stop f__king talking. What’s the real problem here? Self reliance and suffering in silence.
So instead of telling blokes to take up journaling and mindfulness perhaps we ought to be talking about the evils of self reliance. Humans are social. We are at our best when we collaborate. As men we’ve been brought up to be in competition. And we cannot under any circumstances show weakness. Poor mental health is still seen as a weakness. Especially by those of us who don’t understand what it is.
So what we need as men is permission to be vulnerable, permission to be compassionate and empathetic and kind to ourselves. Permission to talk about how we feel. We need brotherhood. We need support and encouragement from our peers. We need groups where we can get together and talk about mental strength and high performance.
Men need to understand that resilience means resting and recuperating, looking after our nervous system, having the tools to be at our best mentally and physically. We need to understand that it doesn’t mean acting tough and carrying on through pain. It doesn’t mean keep going until you drop. IT IS NOT WEAK TO RECUPERATE AND REST.
I’m all for these awareness weeks.
I like that they get us talking.
But we need to change the f__king conversation!
Self Mastery
The opposite to poor mental health is mental strength. And in order to cultivate that you need to have great self awareness and be working towards self mastery.
Self mastery is being in control of your thoughts and emotions and not the other way around.
It is knowing your strengths and weaknesses and living your life accordingly.
It is looking at every area of your life and striving to reach your full potential.
I have designed a scorecard which can help you see which areas of your life need your attention, where you need to improve.
Itv takes about 5 minutes and it’s a great exercise in self awareness.
Give it a whirl and get your free Scorecard.
https://daniel-kp0l4euf.scoreapp.com
Always in your corner
Cheers
Dan
