How Is Now Late?
Mental Health Awareness Month
Q: How Is Now Late?
A: May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I am deeply passionate about this subject, as everything that we do, who we’ve been before, who we are now, and who we are becoming originates in the fertile ground of our mental health. How is yours? Have you been nurturing this realm of your Being lately? Did you know we are in the midst of a global mental health crisis and that it does, and will continue to, impact your life?
I’ve been feeling a bit curious and perhaps a bit distraught in wondering if anyone out there in my community is allowing this to sink in. I have heard from some who seem to feel immune or distant to this issue because they are “fine”. But whether someone is a neighbor, a friend’s child, a social worker, the President, your bestie, or a total stranger, etc. their mental health affects you. Others are focusing on crises such as climate or racism, etc. I understand that mental health, or the disturbance of it, is not a pleasing subject to face and that there are many other issues at hand. I also can’t help but feel this is the issue and if we each don’t muster up the courage to tackle this, we could drown in it.
The Pandemic and its impact
For example…In a letter I sent out to a few friends recently I shared that:
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide while the demand for mental health is steadily increasing. Bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. As a bellwether, a new US study indicates that of 1.5M youth from ages 11-17, 50% are in current suicidal ideation. Many people, in order to cope, or being unable to cope, may be facing increased levels of alcohol and drug use, insomnia, and anxiety(source).
Consider that for a moment. 50% of a very large representation of our youth are in a flux state of suicidal ideation. That means that half of an entire generation sees death as a potential option to solving their pain. And yes, at least that many are in pain. What does this mean to you? For me, I see families in crisis, I see pained children and teens who are at a loss and in full despair. I see our future leaders born from this chaotic reality and I see the problem only worsening if we don’t innovate to meet this challenge with new ideas, as the old ones are not working. Even if therapy could help many of these children, are there enough therapists to see 50% of a generation? No. We need an army of civilians who can listen and hold space for transformation.
My Personal Mental Health
Mental health is something I work on enhancing every day through my personal practices, contemplations, and service. Humans are each in a different place of resourcing health and it can range from light to deep moment to moment, on the daily, seasonally, or perhaps depending on a given transit through our lives.
I am in the process of learning how to ask for help. Maybe it sounds obvious or easy to do? Well, they didn’t teach this in my Montessori class, nor in high school, or even when studying to get my Masters. For some people, it may not be as difficult as it is for others and I am definitely in the “others” category. Actually, after receiving graceful and generous help from a dear friend the other day on a simple task, I had such a deep, cathartic cry that melted me to my core. On the other side of releasing what felt like years of stress and psychological songs of “holding it together” or “going it alone”, I actually began to feel myself truly receive.
This was a profound experience for me, one that takes me back to my infancy and attachment style of which I am constantly unwinding. I am blessed to have the resources in my life to be able to spend my time surveying the delicate layers of my mind such as I have been describing. And I’ve been asking, how can more and more people learn that they too can access their inner world as a source of mental health, vitality, and freedom?
I am living this answer right now, one day, one conversation, one relationship at a time. I acknowledge my privilege and am working to open doorways of possibility to others who haven’t tasted such freedom. Regardless of age, race, culture, etc we all have a mind and these minds create worlds. The youth I spoke of and millions of others who are on the verge of life and death are walking a dangerous line and we have to meet this crisis where it begins. To make effective change in the outer world, we have to make effective change in the inner world. The time is no longer now. The time is late.
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We cannot change the world until we accept we are the world. This is the new conversation.
