Mental health has, as a topic and practice has progressed so much since I was introduced to it 20 years.
One thing that I see that has worsened is our abject terror of rejection, abandonment and of being hurt.
A talk with my trainer yesterday had me thinking of how there's been a shift in my parents generation, a lot who were driven mostly by facts to my teen’s cohort who are mainly driven by feelings.
Feelings are real and are a response to events. The core of our purpose, feelings/emotions are the reason we continue on with life in the face of disappointment, the reason we get more cautious in the face of uncertainty and get that intuition the this person is the ONE for us.
Being an emotional person is actually a good thing, it’s when we only feel the sad ones, the ones that cause fear and hopelessness constantly that it starts to get bad.
This is when facts roll in. The feeling could be a result of a misunderstanding. Did I just imagine that my colleague gave me a funny look? Did your partner actually speak more sharply than usual?
This is perhaps when we stop and see if
1. Are we misinterpreting the event ?
2. Are they are having a tough time themselves and are reacting to their feelings ?
Don’t sit on that feeling and let it stew. It is unreal or imagined, will take on and take on gigantic proportions, leave you you feeling terrible days or weeks and make you miserable.
Ask the colleague, gently, if something is off. Get ready that they will say no and that you imagined it or that you are too sensitive. Or will tell you what they meant with that look
Perhaps your partner will tell you that they are indeed upset with something that hasn’t anything to do with you.
Whichever way the conversation goes, you are exploring the truth behind feeling and that’s always better than letting something unknown affect you mentally.
#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness
