Kaitlyn is just the coolest girl. She was part of a Brock University based movement called Cope Care Connect which took the school by storm with it's sole mission to support students from a mental health stand point. One of the most positive experiences I had at school was writing about this campaign because it meant I got to meet people like Kaitlyn, all of whom just wanted to reach out to a community and made a difference and found the means to put their words into actions. Read on and see for yourself...
Mental health week…. Do you know what it is? What its about? Have you even heard about it? Well I hope the answer to all of these is yes, even though I highly doubt it is! I would think that for many struggling with a mental illness it may seem impossible to find sources of gratitude, no matter how miniscule they may be.
But for me, gratitude, it keeps my mental health in check, stable, and balanced. First of all, how grateful am I that there is a WHOLE week dedicated to mental health? 10 years ago we never would have seen this! It is in our automatic nature as human beings to always want more, always try to accommodate for what we don’t have, or brand things that we want as things that we need.
This “nature” blinds us from seeking thanks for the things that we do have, and accepting what we do have as gifts. In turn, as a result from misdiagnosing all these wants as needs, our bodies become overloaded with things that we think we must have in order to be happy. This overload can create numerous different outcomes, many being distress, anxiety and even depression. All of the previously mentioned are forms of mental illness or can compromise mental well-being. So is it worth it, is it worth to get so stressed out and literally make ourselves ill over our materialistic wants?
I’m not saying that all mental illness is caused by wanting things we can’t have, sometimes its not a material thing, it could be a person, or a place, or even something complex as a life. But most of these are comprised of things. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and say one thing that you are thankful for. Right now, I’m thankful for my cat, she is sitting right beside me and she makes me happy (Insert crazy cat lady comment here). In that moment of being thankful for whatever it is, a new pair of shoes, a cat, or having a roof over your head, it brings you back down, it brings you down to earth. It doesn’t matter who you’re thanking, or what you’re being thankful for, all that matters is that you’re doing it. What if we were all thankful for each other? What if giving thanks out loud enlightened other people on things that they could potentially be thankful for?
Our disconnect allows room for all of these thoughts, which can then manifest into some sort of distraught illness. Connection is the key to so many things. Breaking the stigma around mental health, raising awareness on mental health, and most of all, educating on mental health. This is what mental health week is all about, and within all of these different aspects, I found my own strategy and theory. If we can connect with each other, through what we are grateful for, it humanizes us, and makes us realize that all those other little things, they don’t really matter. We need to stop always asking ourselves what we want, and look around and what we have.
And if you physically, spiritually and mentally have nothing, you will eventually have something, and you should be thankful for that potential. The potential for greatness and gratitude lives within each one of us, and once we dig that out from wherever its hiding, it tunes your heart with your mind, and your mind with your soul, and everything becomes that much more clear. That mental illness, it becomes recognized, it becomes lifted, and its potential to vanish is right in front of you. My gauge on mental health is not certified and I am not a mental health specialist. However I can tell you one thing, showing kindness, never brought anyone’s day down.
Mental health week…. Do you know what it is? What its about? Have you even heard about it? Well I hope the answer to all of these is yes, even though I highly doubt it is! I would think that for many struggling with a mental illness it may seem impossible to find sources of gratitude, no matter how miniscule they may be.
But for me, gratitude, it keeps my mental health in check, stable, and balanced. First of all, how grateful am I that there is a WHOLE week dedicated to mental health? 10 years ago we never would have seen this! It is in our automatic nature as human beings to always want more, always try to accommodate for what we don’t have, or brand things that we want as things that we need.
This “nature” blinds us from seeking thanks for the things that we do have, and accepting what we do have as gifts. In turn, as a result from misdiagnosing all these wants as needs, our bodies become overloaded with things that we think we must have in order to be happy. This overload can create numerous different outcomes, many being distress, anxiety and even depression. All of the previously mentioned are forms of mental illness or can compromise mental well-being. So is it worth it, is it worth to get so stressed out and literally make ourselves ill over our materialistic wants?
I’m not saying that all mental illness is caused by wanting things we can’t have, sometimes its not a material thing, it could be a person, or a place, or even something complex as a life. But most of these are comprised of things. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and say one thing that you are thankful for. Right now, I’m thankful for my cat, she is sitting right beside me and she makes me happy (Insert crazy cat lady comment here). In that moment of being thankful for whatever it is, a new pair of shoes, a cat, or having a roof over your head, it brings you back down, it brings you down to earth. It doesn’t matter who you’re thanking, or what you’re being thankful for, all that matters is that you’re doing it. What if we were all thankful for each other? What if giving thanks out loud enlightened other people on things that they could potentially be thankful for?
Our disconnect allows room for all of these thoughts, which can then manifest into some sort of distraught illness. Connection is the key to so many things. Breaking the stigma around mental health, raising awareness on mental health, and most of all, educating on mental health. This is what mental health week is all about, and within all of these different aspects, I found my own strategy and theory. If we can connect with each other, through what we are grateful for, it humanizes us, and makes us realize that all those other little things, they don’t really matter. We need to stop always asking ourselves what we want, and look around and what we have.
And if you physically, spiritually and mentally have nothing, you will eventually have something, and you should be thankful for that potential. The potential for greatness and gratitude lives within each one of us, and once we dig that out from wherever its hiding, it tunes your heart with your mind, and your mind with your soul, and everything becomes that much more clear. That mental illness, it becomes recognized, it becomes lifted, and its potential to vanish is right in front of you. My gauge on mental health is not certified and I am not a mental health specialist. However I can tell you one thing, showing kindness, never brought anyone’s day down.
I’m thankful for being able to connect to all of you through this MOG. What are you grateful for? What do you already have, that can make you see more clearly?
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