Don't Underestimate Mental Health

Take that Mental Health Day

Pamper yourself—take time for mental health.

Do you know the value of your personal health? As an educator, how many people are relying on you to give 150%? Can you give it happily? Would you want any professional to give you a service while struggling with their mental health? An anxious surgeon? An enraged judge? A hopeless coach?

Transform

The Science I Explored

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.[1] 

Having solid mental health doesn’t mean that you never go through bad times or experience emotional problems. We all go through disappointments, loss, and change. And while these are normal parts of life, they can still cause sadness, anxiety, and stress. But just as physically healthy people are better able to bounce back from illness or injury, people with strong mental health are better able to bounce back from adversity, trauma, and stress. This ability is called resilience.

People who are emotionally and mentally resilient have the tools for coping with difficult situations and maintaining a positive outlook. They remain focused, flexible, and productive, in bad times as well as good. Their resilience also makes them less afraid of new experiences or an uncertain future. Even when they don’t immediately know how a problem will get resolved, they are hopeful that a solution will eventually be found.[2] 

A Situation

An educator goes about the daily routine and starts to notice small differences in her reactions. The educator seems to be a bit less patient with student progress or administration directives. Sometimes, there is a feeling of anxiety on Sunday night. Other times, Fridays end with a much-desired drink or smoke. The feeling of excitement over a lesson is slowly fading and every workshop begins to sound like “too much work.” When bad news comes, it is overwhelming, but the educator tries to hold it all in for the sake of others.

Taking a Mental Health Day

We are talking about the importance of a person’s mental health. It is time to include mental health days as part of an educator’s regular life. Emotions are not avoidable and should not be seen as something to avoid. But why should you accept an onslaught of negative feelings with no counter; nothing from the “positive emotions” bag? Since there is a scale of emotions from positive to negative, actions can be taken to choose an emotion that serves you in the moment.

Acknowledge the feelings of anxiety or anger by jotting them down on a small piece of paper or just talking to yourself.

• “I feel upset about…”

• “I’m angry that…”

• “I really have a hard time…”

• “That…hurt”

• “My feelings matter because…”

Release yourself from any judgment. You are not bad. You are not weak. You are a feeling human being.

At minimum, remove yourself from a situation if possible. At the first chance you get, put yourself into a soothing situation. Write a list of soothing situations in case the first few are not available at the moment. Title your list “I feel Good When I…”. Keep that list in your wallet, purse, pocket, and so on. You may not be able to do it immediately, but you can do the “feel good” act as soon as you get a moment.

Make a point to regularly do a thing that makes you feel good. Monthly? Weekly? Daily? Hourly? How often do you need your mental-health break? You decide. How much are negative emotions weighing you down? Maybe you need uplifting music in your background all day. Maybe you need to hear a toddler laughing at the end of the day, so you watch laughing kid videos. You know. We can only control our own actions, and taking time for mental health is you acting for you.

Seek professional help at any point you think you need it: the point where everything is just so overwhelming and you’re having trouble feeling happiness, even when you think about people and things you love and enjoy, or when you can only find happiness in something harmful to your health.

What does your happiness look like to you? Say it with me: “I get to create my emotional well being.”

Quotes

You look at me and cry; everything hurts. I hold you and whisper: but everything can heal.

—Rupi Kaur

I am not afraid of the storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.

—Amy March, from Little Women

[1] “What is Mental Health?” MentalHealth.gov, Updated May 28, 2020, https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health.

[2] Melinda Smith, MA, Robert Segal, MA, Lawrence Robinson, and Jeanne Segal, PhD, “Building Better Mental Health,” Helping Guide, Updated October 2020, https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/building-better-mental-health.htm.