Shaurya

Jul 21, 2022

Mental Health

Once upon a time there lived a baby toad with his mother and father. They were a happy family, one day the baby toad fell sick he had a very bad ache in his tummy. "Mommy, it hurts here." Poor baby toad wailed. "Don't worry my child, once we visit a doctor he will make you healthy again". The baby toad asked, "What does it mean to be healthy mommy?".

The mommy toad replied, "It means that you are strong and have no pain in that tummy."

"The old lady down the lane is she not healthy?"

"No Mrs. Mouse is healthy." The mother replied.

"But mommy she is always crying and sad and says she is in pain."

"That my son is emotional pain, when your body is well but your heart is crying." Papa toad replied after listening to the entire conversation quietly.

"Does that mean she is healthy if she is in emotional pain?" The baby toad asked again.

Both mommy toad and papa toad looked at baby toad with a smile.

" Being healthy does not merely mean the absence of illness son." Mommy toad replied.

"It also means physical, mental, and social well-being. "

Health is something we humans cherish and desire but not many of us actually know the real meaning of it. Just like the baby toad in that story we confuse the word health with mere absence of disease, however health in actuality stands for the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.

Furthermore, mental well-being or mental health is one of the most taboo issue in our society and it is high time we normalize the concept of mental health.

The American Psychiatric Association defines mental health as, a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, good behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish constructive relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life.

Mental health of a person determines how one feels, thinks, acts, handle stress, pressure and anxiety and how we deal with people and our environment.

Now why is it that mental health is important? The general conception has emerged to believe that since it is bot talked about it must not be important. That is exactly where we as a society and individuals go wrong. Both mental health  and physical health are interrelated. Many a times presence of a diathesis results in development of a psychological disorder and mental disorders can affect physical health for example a person suffering from conversion disorder may experience blindness, paralysis or other neurological symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation.

When talking about the importance  we cannot ignore some very basic value points.

Which include:

Now that is clear why we must maintain our mental health let's look into factors affecting mental health.

Life can sometimes take a toll on us but that does not mean life is hell, yeah it has it's ups and downs but that's ohkay, because to see that rainbow you need to face the storm.

Lastly let's have a quick run down of how to boost that mental health. Surprisingly, we need not do some extremely bizarre, out of this world or too complicated stuff all one needs to do is do what makes you happy, makes you feel grounded, relaxed and keeps you motivated. This could mean different things for different people but here is a brief list of things and lifestyle changes thay can be adopted for a better living.