Seriously, English is really a bear of a language. Even those who are native speakers are tripped up by the various meanings of words and phrases. And the latest generations seem to ascribe completely non-related or bogus meanings to words that have nothing to do with anything.
Wearing the various hats that I do, I frequently come across the phrase: Mental Health. Boy are we using that phrase wrong.
Lesson 1: Mental illness is a physical problem, not a thinking problem.
1) Mental = brain
2) Illness = something wrong
3) brain = a bajillion working parts
4) deficiency = a working part that’s not working right
5) Happiness and sadness = chemical reactions in the brain
6) brain + deficiency (whether vitamin, mineral, or a broken working part) = happiness, sadness, and everything in between isn’t working right.
7) trauma can cause a deficiency.
Lesson one complete. I hope you understand that mental illness is a physical issue and not a “it’s in your head, get over it” issue. I have a more detailed blog post about it somewhere on this site (read it here). I encourage you to read it if you still don’t get that connection.
Lesson 2: Mental Health is not about mental illness
Scenario 1…
1) You’re obese
2) You don’t want your obesity to kill you
3) You improve your physical health to avoid dying from being obese (or associated conditions).
Scenario 2…
1) You’re not obese
2) You don’t want to die because of obesity and the medical complications that come with it
3) You imporve your physical health to avoid #2.
Scenario 3…
1) You found out you have a degenerative disease
2) The number one recommendation your doctor gives you fight the disease is exercise and improving your physical health.
3) You improve your physical health to prolong the degenerative effects of #1.
Scenario 4…
1) You’re fit
2) You like being healthy and the rewards you experience from having a health body
3) You maintain your activites to ensure contiued physical health.
Lesson #2 complete.
I like leaving a couple of connections unspoken so you’ll be forced to make them yourself.
But it’s an important enough issue, so here’s what you’re missing. How much effort, activity, consideration to do spend on your mental health? Do you lift weights daily? At least go for a walk 30 minutes 3 times a week? All mentally, of course.
You see physical health and physical ailments have a correlation. Mental health and mental ailments, it makes sense at least, may have correlations as well.
Except we don’t care enough as a society to know this because mental flab doesn’t affect how our butt looks in jeans. And that’s really all we care about as a society.
But because mental health as a preventative and a lifestyle doesn’t even register on our social radar, mental illness has become an epidemic that is incredibly misunderstood and undertreated. We all know about cancer, but what do you know about depression? We all know about what not maintaining good physical health does to our hearts but what does bad mental health do to our ability to react appropriately and positively?
Mental Health. We stay away from it because it has to do with mental illness. How wrong we are. Your mind’s ability to fit into your life and function appropriately and positively is exponentially more important than how your ass fits in your jeans and what comes out the top.
It is the silent epidemic which the vast majority of our society ignores and neglects, causing us to become mentally obese suffering all the effects of such.
It’s your responsibilty to maintain your health, for you, and your family.
Get a yearly checkup. Exercise. Take care of your mental health.
