Never Been Better

How are you? Oftentimes, we’d say, we’re fine but in reality there are times that we’ve been questioning ourselves. There are sad and heart breaking stories behind all those “we are fine” moments.

Have you ever felt so worthless? Have you ever wished you can do things the way your friends do so excellently? Have you always questioned your value? Or even worse, have you ever asked why you even existed in the first place? These are but some of the questions that bugged one of my friends for so many years. He was so frustrated with himself that he deprived himself from eating and sleeping. He did not have any interest seeing us and enjoying activities that we usually had fun doing. Sad but true, he was struggling with depression and needed us the most in those difficult times.

But how do we battle something we cannot see? How do we beat these questions in mind? How can we help our loved ones with mental illness? What we did was to make sure that he never felt he’s different. Together with his family, we became his support system. Every single person who had mental health issues should be given the most needed attention. Once they have shown signs of improvement, it should be celebrated. They should be encouraged to do things that they used to enjoy until they finally cope up. Little by little, we should guide them towards self improvement.

While mental illnesses can be cured, let us always remember that prevention is always better than cure. We should never let ourselves be put in a position where we questioned our value. We should always expect that there are endeavors that are not just meant for us. When we fail to achieve things that we’ve been wishing for, let’s continue to trust God’s perfect timing.

More importantly, we should focus on our self improvement so we will be able to see our growth and personal development. With this, we can better ourselves and we’ll be able to take care of our mental health. Let’s treat every single day as an opportunity to learn, to work hard, to chase for our dreams and eventually to appreciate our journey, from who we were to what we have successfully become so when the time that someone asked you how you are feeling. You’d no longer say you’re fine, you’d say “you’ve never been better”.

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REFERENCES:

Felman A. (2020). What is mental health?. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). Learn About Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm