When you spend everyday talking about mental health, what
do you write on a day like Bell Let’s Talk, that you wouldn’t say any other day?
That’s been the question I’ve been grappling with all day, as I sit in the fort I built in my living room.
Maybe, that it’s okay to be you. Everything
that comes out of my brain seems cliché.
But, it is the truth. Find people
who like to be around you in all your weirdness. I sent my roommate a message last night that
I was going to be taking over half of the living room with a kickass pillow
fort and his response was “sounds awesome.”
That’s how I know he's a good roommate.
He accepts all my weird stuff. In
turn, I accept all his weird stuff. And
we are happy.
So, on this day of mental health awareness, I ask you to
be aware of your mental health. Do the
things that you want to do. The things
that make you happy, which may not be the same as the things that society
expects. From my experience, society
doesn’t know how to be happy. There is
no set of rules that apply to everyone and trying to get everyone to fit into
the same box makes most people feel uncomfortable and crowded. Stay out of the box!!!
So, here is my "out of the box"... these are pictures of my kickass new blanket fort called, The Fortress of Soliloquy (because it is also my new writing office). I’m 34 years old and it felt great to build. I made plans and everything and I’m very happy with the result. I shared these photos on Facebook and it was one of the most liked albums I’ve ever had. It’s funny, all the things that I share that are really weird and out there get the highest response from people. Doing things that make me happy, seems to make other people happy too. Being brazen and confident about my eccentricities let's other people feel comfortable about their own.
And that’s really the heart of what I have learned in my own journey to mental health; when you take care of yourself, others are inspired/free to care for themselves as well. I think that’s the real principle of the “teach a man to fish” parable – you can help someone with their problem, or you can show them how you solve that same problem. You couldn’t teach a man to fish if you didn’t know how to fish yourself. You can’t help someone love themselves, if you don’t know how to love yourself. You can’t make someone happy, if you are not happy with yourself. Everything starts and ends with you.


Also, check out my post written as a guest blog released for #BellLetsTalk, here.
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