Happiness and mental health

syyskuuta 13, 2017

Happiness and mental health

Happiness can be a beautiful word but it can also be the most terrifying of all words. Everyone knows it’s the thing we should pursue, and when we’re at a point where it doesn’t seem possible, we feel ashamed and stressed because we feel like we’re not living the right way. I believe we’re always - consciously or not - trying to be happier, we just don’t always make the right choices. So even if we can’t always be truly happy due to life’s ups and downs, we’re trying to make the decisions to make us happier.

Let’s face it. We don’t always feel great. Life does that. But if we feel bad for a long period of time, we can and should get help. Life does that too. For the record, about 9% of the Finnish have depression and feel really bad but still so many of them haven’t even thought of getting help. That’s probably because people don’t even talk about it! I think we have to raise awareness of how common mental illnesses and disorders are and how crucial it is to take care of ourselves physically and mentally. Both ways, because bad physical health and especially eating too much sugar and not exercising enough can cause mental illnesses due to high cortisol and blood sugar levels. On the other hand bad mental health and stress can cause for example digestive issues. Stressed people are also less likely to follow healthy habits.

Now it’s clear that I think that we have to take care of ourselves, so my job is basically done. All I really wanted to do with this text was to remind the very few people reading it that the way we feel is important and we shouldn’t forget it. We shouldn’t suffer just because other people do it or because we’re too lazy to try to change things in our lives. We’re worth more than that.

My tips for not feeling like poop:

Admit that you’re not okay
Do your research so you get an idea of what the issue may be
Try to change your habits into healthier ones (like starting to work out and taking time to de-stress)
Go see a professional

I also searched for some awful quotes about happiness and other things just for fun :)