Tomorrow, 10th Oct, is World Mental Health Day
A day for raising awareness of mental health around the world.
I think this is a really important day, because just as we all have physical health, we also have mental health.
And just like with our physical health, it’s not a set thing.
It can go up and down, back and forth.
Some days your mental health might be good; other days not so much.
Also, just like with physical health, mental health is something we need to be aware of, and take care of.
Your mind is a part of your body, and lots of the things that keep your body healthy can also help your mind to be healthy.
Things like exercising, eating healthily and so on.
That’s why I send out these emails each week.
To give you some ideas for things you can do to create more Mental Sunshine in your life, like taking vitamins to prevent catching a cold!
I also often go out and speak to groups about “How to Find Your Sunshine” – a talk which is a bit like an extended version of one of these emails.
I think it’s important to talk about mental health, and to be honest about it.
Most of us will struggle with our mental health at some point – but that doesn’t mean we all get a formal diagnosis from a doctor.
I did go to the doctors and was diagnosed with depression. Once in 2016 and again during lockdown in 2020, and ended up on medication for a while.
But lots of us just plod through our daily lives, not feeling great from time to time.
Struggling to find any mental sunshine in our lives.
It may not feel bad enough to go to the doctors – or perhaps we’re too embarrassed to go – but it’s still there.
My diagnosis and my determination to get off the medication led me on this journey to find my own sunshine and look for other ways to help me get better.
What I love about sharing the tips I find via these emails and doing my “How to Find Your Sunshine” talk is that we’re focusing on something positive we can all do to help improve things.
Hopefully, it will also help people to be more aware of their own mental health and the mental health of those around them.
If you’d like to find out more or book me to talk at your event or place of work, reply to this email and we can have a chat.