Salud mental, vivencias personales / Mental health, personal experiences

Although mental health is a very popular topic nowadays, there is still a lot of taboo about it, that's why today I have decided to tell some personal experiences and others close to me.

Many see it as something crazy, which is actually a quite obsolete thought, it is as if we were told that it is bad to go to the dentist or to an internist or family doctor, when in fact going to health specialists has more weight or importance than we think, because many of our "physical" diseases come from the mind.

But what is it that has prompted me to write about this today, many factors really, I couldn't pick just one thing.

I currently have a friend, not just any friend, a very close one, she is part of my family and I know I am part of hers ❤️, anyway, she in the past has had mild anxiety issues, she has her family doctor who has helped her and taught her how to live with this and sometimes overcome it.

Since a few days ago, she has presented these problems again and although she knows how to identify these symptoms and has been responsible with herself by contacting her doctor and following her advice, things have not stopped there, on the contrary, they have been getting worse as the days have gone by.

Last night she already made a decision to change doctors, as she feels that her current doctor is not exactly hitting the mark, but what about in the meantime? How does she continue with her normal rhythm of life?

Here the situation starts to get a little more complicated, because even though you don't see it that way or don't want to admit it, these things stop and alter your rhythm of life, you simply stop being the same, you forget what makes you happy and this pushes you towards sadness and other things.

It is not the first person close to me who suffers from anxiety, I have several and although each one lives it in their own way, it destabilizes and alters everyone, making even their smile disappear.

I particularly, today with more knowledge and maturity, I can recognize that I have had episodes throughout my life, I could not say exactly if anxiety or not, but I usually call it "existential crisis", where I have needed help.

The first one I can clearly remember was more than 10 years ago, a moment where I felt lost, aimless, misunderstood, I didn't know what I wanted, I didn't know clearly what I felt.

I did not know how to handle my feelings or the situation, I did not seek help, not real help, in fact I never talked about this with anyone as such, I did not act in the best way and today I can see it clearly, because drowning in those feelings and not sharing them with anyone else, not seeking help, only sinks us deeper, eats us up inside, however I managed to get out of the situation, not in the right or easy way, I do not even remember how, but I managed to get out.

A couple of years later, I was involved in the same situation, this time a little worse, because I did not sleep and if I did I did not rest, I just stayed in the dark immersed in all those emotions and that is where I react and decide to seek help, it has been the only time I have sought professional help, I remember clearly that it was online help because I didn't want anyone around me to know that something was bothering me to the extreme of having to seek help, because in my family going to a psychologist is not very normal, so I got help online, obviously with a health professional, the truth was very good and it helped me to get out of where I was submerged, she gave me tools, she left me tasks, she freed me from that situation.

So with my story, I want to say that it is wrong to fall into what people will say, to let ourselves be carried away by that is not the right thing for us and in order to have healthy relationships with the rest of our environment it is necessary to go to health experts, even if it is only to go to tell our stories, in reality we all have issues to heal even if we do not realize it, do not wait to be in extreme situations where we feel we can no longer, things are better when we act by prevention instead of correction.

Post de del que hablo aquí arriba

This part reminded me of a post made by our hive partner @arlettemsalase who tells us that in her Twitter account she wrote about that instead of eating pizza we should go to therapy, it is not exactly like that but it has the essence, I will leave you the link to the post here. Well I saw the tweet on Twitter before she made a post about it and I was surprised by most of the responses she got, after that she made the post I'm talking about, touching the topic and the controversy it generated.

People said that the price of pizza could not be compared with the price of therapy, I am not going to debate about this, what I want to say is that while I know that money is often a barrier to do many things, we should not use it as an excuse to take care of us, of our mental health, for example in San Cristobal, Venezuela, where I live, today you can find free help in various health centers and social networks we can also find people and especially agencies that offer support and free professional help, so the tools are there, you just have to look for them and find them, Venezuela, where I live, today you can find free help in several health centers and in social networks we can also find people and especially agencies that offer support and free professional help, so the tools are there, you just have to look for them and of course know how to look for them with caution.

So I end my post with an invitation to as I said a moment ago; to take care of ourselves, of our mental health, to learn more about ourselves, to take the tools to handle situations that suddenly we do not handle in the best way, to leave the stigmas and taboos aside, because we only live or have awareness of only one life, then we will give ourselves quality of life and not only in the material but also in the mental.

Thanks for reading me once again, see you soon, big hugs loaded with the best vibes and that little push you need to put aside the fear of asking for help, help in time!