There are times when literally days go by, maybe even a week when I have no topic to write about, an absolute writer's block. Or as my fellow NEOXIANITES say, No Inspiration!
Today is not one of those days.
I'm having an extremely bad day, mentally. I've been drained, emotions taking over. So I was thinking about writing something, anything. Sitting here, running through my keyboard makes me forget reality for at least a while. The night is getting pretty windy. I like the cool breeze going wild, far into the dark night sky. Sometimes I'll just stare out my window, feel the breeze run through my face and dive deep into old memories, try to re-live them and just get more sad.
So back to the keyboard. I was thinking of writing the weekly Splinterlands post. I also have a very interesting medical article to write. While I was trying to chose between the two, I got caught up in a chat over at the BDC discord about mental health issues and I realized how neglected of an issue this is. This is something we, as a society, need to address and the sooner the better.
So the other posts can wait. This is more important. And anyways I usually do the journals of my Depression Diaries when I'm feeling down. And I'm feeling pretty down today.
Source
Suicide - Should we Judge?
The discussion spurred with the news of suicide of an actor. Now while I 100% agree suicide is never a solution (I've mentioned this in one of my previous journal too), but we should definitely not judge a person for doing what he has done. It's wrong, but we are in no position to judge someone, because have you ever tried to imagine for a second, just for a second what sort of pain they must have been going through to decide to end their life? Even just the mere thought of committing suicide comes from unimaginable pain. I've been there, so trust me when I say unimaginable. To actually go ahead and do it...I feel so sorry for the poor souls.
Society - A Collective Effort at Failure
And in most of the cases, at least in these parts of the world, they had no one who they could talk to about their mental health issues. Because mental health is not an issue here! People turn a blind eye to the existence of mental health issues and are termed "abnormal." It is sad that even your own family and friends will term your issues as "পাগলের প্রলাপ" or a mad-man's rant! This is our failure as a society. This is not an issue confined to selected families. The society has collectively failed to address this. Ignorance? Maybe. Arrogance? Probably. Whatever the reason, there's no denying this failure and the society needs to stand up.
Why Though?
So why has the society failed? No one fails to acknowledge that people suffer from heart diseases and needs to addressed. No one fails to acknowledge a bleeding arm needs a bandage. Why is so hard to realize a bleeding heart needs tending to as well?
The issue with mental health is, unless someone experiences it themselves, there is literally no way you can explain it to them. It will be a "mad-man's rant" to them. For example, the pain of getting a finger cut, you can sort of explain how it feels. The itching of a mosquito bite, you can explain. Mental health issues aren’t that simple. People can only comprehend it if they are empathetic enough, but never fully Understand it if they haven’t been through it.
Source
There have been times when I judged people who attempted or worse, committed suicide. But once I found myself in their shoes, I realized the injustice that runs havoc in this society. Never judge if you haven't been in their shoes, Never. You have NO idea what they're dealing with. I didn't either, unfortunately now I do. It is one of the most horrible traumas you can go though.
This is what makes dealing with Mental health issues so tricky. You can't really understand what they're going through unless you've been through the same. Now we can't want a whole society filled with people who have mental issues, can we!
The first step is to stop being judgmental. Being judgmental is an aggressive approach and one with mental health issues will not feel comfortable opening up to you when they know you're gonna judge them in the end or shun them down aggressively.
Next, this is tricky. You need to spot someone who is dealing with mental health issues. And it's not always easy to. We don't feel comfortable sharing what we're going through with everyone, sometimes not even with family because, well, judgmental! Duh! A lot of the times, surprisingly enough you'll find these people are always quite jolly on the outside. Laughing and trying to have fun. What many will fail to realize is that they're doing it as a last attempt at finding some peace within themselves.
Final Words
Mental Health is a serious issue. Do not take it lightly. It is as real as a heart attack. As real as a stroke. Pay close attention to your close ones. A little effort may save a life. Stay safe, Stay mentally healthy.
BDCommunity Witness
@zaku and @reazuliqbal has been the mind and soul behind the BDVoter project and many of you have received some great support for good content from BDV. The bros have been working tirelessly to make onboarding new users onto the HIVE platform by curating from all over the platform! And now they have set up the BDCommunity Witness.
I feel proud that I have been appointed as an ambassador for the BDCommunity!
Do consider giving the BDCommunity you witness vote via Hivesigner or you could also go to the Peakd witness page and search manually by typing in BDCommunity
The BDC has also been collecting donations for helping the poor people of Bangladesh in this time of crisis. Do check out the post Here and donate STEEM/SBD/HIVE/HBD to @bdcommunity
That's all from me for now!
Until Next Time!
Peace!
Shared on Twitter
Mental health is worse than a heat attack and the pain is the fact that it is under diagnosed
@deepu7 Thank you brother!
You are welcome bro.
Today's era, our terms, and conditions towards society have changed a lot. now we promote individuality rather than collectivity.
Thank you for sharing
So much kindness of you
Thank you brother!
Our family and society usually overlook the mental health issue. When the family pays attention, it's too late then. When we talk about fitness, people tend to focus on physical aspects and completely forget the mental aspects. We need to give equal importance to both of them. Only then, we can see a positive change.
Thank you so much @simplifylife for sharing this. Keep writing! :)
Yes you are indeed very correct. We tend to focus more on the physical fitness and ignore the aspect of mental fitness, which is equally important!
Mental health is a delicate issue - I'm heartbroken at the news of that actor that committed suicide. Your suggestions to combat the issue is spot on and one more thing doc - I hope yours too blooms into soundness and peace.
Thank you so much for the kind words Ude! I do hope someday we as a society can handle this issue more delicately and more peace prevails in the hearts of the broken souls!