What’s in it for me?
You are having a bad day, your mind feels inflamed with negative thoughts and your whole being just feel tired…..sounds familiar? Or your anxiety that ridicule your calm approach, your body feels bruised and your thoughts seem to go nowhere….maybe you?
You see mental health uncovers the difficulties that those with it face everyday, it is not easy, it is draining, it robbs you of precious time, it is overwhelming, it influences your body and mind negatively and sometimes to extremes….. You feel that you have to work harder than those without mental health problems, just to stay afloat, to fake being okay to not make those around you feel uncomfortable, to step one foot before the other takes so much effort! You have extra bills to pay with therapy, medications, self care and and and….so what’s in it for you struggling and fighting to regain some sense of normality and being able to label yourself as mentally healthy?
YES YES YES….all of this is true and for sure real BUT have you ever thought about the other side to mental health problems??? Have you ever thought that this mental health issue you are struggling with might be a blessing as well, that it might be one of your greatest attributes and maybe just maybe something to be proud of and carry with pride?
You see although those bad days and the accompanying factors are so real, and so difficult to deal with….it can become the collateral beauty in your life…the things that teaches you strength you would have never known without it, the lessons from it to help you help others, to view others from a perspective of empathy and not just sympathy. The battle scars you are carrying around sometime with so much shame….can be scars that motivate others that have no hope. It can be a celebration of what you’ve been through, fought through, lived through and still working on, but it’s not an open wound anymore….it’s a scar to show your brave approach to your mental health, you are a survivor with a story to tell, proudly and with a perspective you would not have had without going through the pain and difficulties!
So what’s in it for you…… to serve with first hand knowledge of not only how bad the bad times can be but also how meaningful the good times can be!!!! Without the bad how will we really treasure and appreciate the good. Carry your mental health problem with both sides in mind….the negative but for sure the positive…..no battery works without one side not connected, it needs both positive and negative to fully function….same with our mental health!
Your are a survivor, a warrior, a storyteller, a true empathetic friend, a person walking proudly with their scars!
Yours truly
Proud scar carrier Naomi Grobler
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Acts 20:35 NIV