One morning during my junior year of high school I woke up still in my uniform from the day before, calculus textbooks strewn across my lap, pencil dangling lazily in my right hand. With bloodshot eyes I walked down the stairs, said good morning to my mother, and within five minutes burst into tears. The stress of endless days of school, APs, standardized tests, and extracurricular activities had finally gotten to me. Between sniffles I muffled some inaudible explanation about a math test and two essays before she agreed I needed to take a “mental health day.”
I had never taken a mental health day before. In fact, I always thought it was ridiculous when others did. I assumed it was an excuse to skip school or get an extra day to study. Just suck it up, I would tell myself. It wasn’t until I reached the point of tears that I realized it was a legitimate concern. And this is a minor scenario at most as far as mental health goes.
Inevitably the memory of the Newtown tragedy has lingered in our minds over the past few months. Discussions of gun control have been brought to the forefront of political debate and with it the controversy of addressing issues of mental health. Obviously the conversation is more geared toward dealing with high level instability linked to cases of violence. However, the topic of mental health is relevant to us Hoya collegiettes as well.
Mental health is an issue easily labeled and often left ignored by the general populous. For girls our age it almost seems irrelevant. We’re in the prime of our lives – young, wild, and free! Only crazy people who are really messed up need to be concerned about that stuff right? Not so much. In tough times we usually resort to the feeble attempts to reassure ourselves. Say we’re fine. Just deal with it. We’re overreacting. It will be okay. Maybe so, but it’s okay to admit when it’s too much.
When you’re running on 5 hours of sleep, dreading your upcoming midterms, homesick, waiting for that guy from last night to text you back, figuring out a way to be in two club meetings at once all while maintaining a semblance of a social life, you hardly ever think about honing a positive attitude and self-awareness. But the truth is that we have to take care of ourselves. I realize that mental health is often hard to grapple with and understand its intangible nature. I know this priority is often put on the backburner behind school and boys and drama, but its importance is understated. There is a large spectrum of mental health issues, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the smaller scale types. If we don’t make sure to be aware of ourselves and maintain a healthy mindset, things can quickly spiral out of control and lead to things like eating disorders, depression or violent behavior etc.
Many will remember the viral blog post that sparked conversation across the board about how to respond to mental illness, in which one mother shared her disturbing experience with her mentally ill son in reaction to the Newtown shooting. (http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html) Not only do we have to be cognizant of our own mental health, but we should also learn to recognize warning signs in friends and family. Be their support system, but don’t be afraid to get support yourself either. There’s such a negative societal stigma associated with mental illness that denial and ignorance is usually the first response. Worse, with such a stigma attached to our generation, girls feel that they shouldn’t be struggling and often don’t seek the proper resources and outlets when they are. But we shouldn’t be ashamed of asking for help. We should also be willing to reach out to those who need it.
On the outside you can be the most well put-together Hoya out there, but don’t forget to give your mind some TLC. Your outlook, priorities, concerns, and other things that consume your mind can be overwhelming, and it doesn’t help that most shy away from mental health issues like taboo. So it’s up to you to take the first steps to know yourself. Know your limits, know when you need to take a break, know how to keep positive people in your life, know your goals, know when you’re taking on too much, know your strengths and weaknesses, know who to turn to when your struggling. Don’t brush this off as another lecture to avoid stress, because it’s becoming more and more evident that mental health plays a huge role in shaping our behavior. Remember Hoyas, mind over matter!
Quote of the Week: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”– Maya Angelou
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