Navigating Mental Health and Inner Well-being with Ida
Oct 10, 2023
We all go through difficult times in life and it's a good shift lately that we start to talk more about mental health and acknowledge that it's equally or even more important than physical health.
Shifting Perspectives: Prioritizing Inner Well-being in a World Obsessed with Appearances
Mental health is a very broad topic and can therefore be a difficult, hard, messy and imperfect subject to talk about. Many people are suffering from difficult problems that can destroy years of life, and relationships with oneself and others and ultimately also kill people. I lost my sister who died by committing suicide.
It's important to normalize to talk about, to take action and try to find answers and solutions in regard to mental health. We often put things in the wrong order. We start with caring about how we appear and what other people think of us, then we consider our physical health and last on the list comes the state of our mental health and how we feel on the inside. Think if people cared more about what they looked like on the inside instead of the outside. Wouldn't that change a lot of the priorities we take?
Navigating the Abyss: My Journey Through Depression, Isolation, and Resilience
I will share a personal low and difficult time in my life a few years ago. I was dealing with depression, the isolation during COVID restrictions, loneliness, injury and I had lost my income. I turned 40 years old and I was sitting alone in a house and I had failed with every aspect of my life that I cared about. It's weird when you don't feel a human touch for over half a year, not a hug, handshake or anything. It could easily go a week without speaking to anyone in person and I felt like I didn't belong in the world at all any longer. I had no purpose for anyone else or for myself. Logically I knew that things could turn for the better again, but emotionally it was very hard to picture myself in a future life that was good.
I know that depression is a big problem for many people, as well as many other challenges to keep mentally healthy. It's hard to think beyond what we are feeling in the moment. That is both the beautiful and tough part with feelings. It's easy to believe that what we are experiencing right now is the only reality of life, which is great when we are 100 % present in a happy moment. We can't keep either happiness or sadness forever, but when we are depressed, sad and hurting it's more difficult to see that the feelings are fleeting and can pass.
Tailoring Mental Health Care to Your Unique Journey
I don't have a solution or advice on how to keep mentally healthy. If there was a clear answer and a clear diagnosis to every condition, we would always know where to look among therapists, medicines, drugs, self-help books and so on. We are all different and we go through different challenges and what we need differs from person to person and also from situation to situation. It can be very helpful to talk to other people, it can also make you feel even more lonely to try to reach out but to not be heard. It can be great to spend time in nature and connect to its rhythm, but it can also make you feel even more isolated if what you need is human contact. Sometimes we need more calmness in life to be able to focus inwards, sometimes it's the opposite, we need more community, buzz, energy and laughter in life. We might need to change our living, working or relationship situation to feel better or the problem lies just within ourselves.
Or we need a good combination of all these things!
Finding Strength in Grace and Gratitude
I like to practice grace and gratitude. Grace towards myself that I’m still trying even though I failed with so much and I always like to practice gratitude. Every time I ask or pray for something, I always start with giving thanks. It's not a way to pretend that everything is great and beautiful in my life but to be thankful for what I do have and the beauty in my life and that always makes me feel better.
Sending all of you some extra love today!
- Ida
- Ida
