May is Mental Health Month

Until my first semester in college, I did not realize how important taking care of your mental health was, and the integral part it plays in us having a healthy and balanced life. Now more than ever, I feel as if mental health has been highlighted in more areas than one, especially on social media. I see tweets like, “Mental health is real, take care of yourself,” and “Mental health should be your top priority,” all the time down my timeline, and I feel happy inside when I see them. Happy because it seems as if we are at a place in society where not just Baby Boomers understand the importance of mental health and the impact that it has on our daily lives, but Millennials and GenZ’ers as well.

In my opinion, I feel like a majority of us have endured a plethora of hardships and while also experiencing moments of complete blissfulness, that have led us to the conclusion that our mental health state encompasses our psychological, emotional and social well-being; and I know that all of us, at one point or another, have experienced moments of disconnect and despondency but could not pinpoint the root of the problem.

The only thing that could be understood was that you were down in a sunken place that seemed impossible to climb out of. But why? What triggers these moments of melancholia? It could be a number of reasons ranging from school, to work, to feeling like you’re not good enough, a lost loved one, or just feeling misunderstood and unloved. It is important to never forget that you are not alone even when it feels that way. Right before the Fall break of my first semester, I can recall everything just hitting me all at once; I was stressed, I was homesick, I was tired and unhappy… I felt overwhelmed and inadequate.

My mind and emotions had completely spiraled into an abyss of hopelessness and a wave of negative thoughts began to erode my spirit. Before making the decision to just fall asleep- in hopes of feeling better in the morning- I was contemplating on doing the irreversible, the only option that seemed like a way to escape what I was feeling. Never before in my life had I ever contemplated suicide, and to even think about going through with it was something that frightened me even more.

To this day, I am grateful for the voice of God telling me to just go to sleep, instead of taking that irreversible step. It took some time, but I climbed my way out of that sunken place, but I didn't do it alone. I was not afraid to reach out to my mom and my friends and share with them how I was struggling mentally. As J.K. Rowling once said,

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

I was not alone in turning on that light. Happy Mental Health Month and remember that there is beauty in the struggle, and you are stronger than your darkest moment. #WeAreGenZ