Understanding Mental Health: A Deeper Dive

Just a quick note. In today's episode, I mentioned taking medication for your mental health. If you are struggling with a mental health condition and are curious about trying medication, please talk with a licensed provider or physician. You should not start taking, stop taking, or make changes to your medication dosage without consulting your physician. (upbeat music) Hi there it's Eve here. Welcome to this brand new week. As it's a Monday and to help get us started, let's take a couple of slow deep breaths to focus the mind and calm the body. This is something I'm doing multiple times during the day at the moment. So feeling your feet on the floor taking a nice slow, deep breath in. And gently out. One more time, deep breath in and then gently releasing out. Thank you for doing that with me. So to start off, today I'd like to quote podcast host and author Glennon Doyle. And she says, "We can do hard things." And she's right, but sometimes we might need a little help. In fact, pretty often we might need some help. So over the next couple of days I'd like to spend a little bit of time really de-stigmatizing mental health, because the more we can normalize the conversation around mental health, the more accessible it will feel in getting the help that you might need. I've suffered from anxiety for a long time and I think the hardest thing for me to admit was that I needed some help, which is actually a very normal part of the process. You know, when it comes to our physical health it's often much easier to grasp and in many cases we can actually see if something's wrong. However, if you're having a really difficult time mentally, which many of us are, there is a chance it can go by unnoticed. Recently we interviewed some Headspace members about what mental health means to them and a consistent theme was feeling balanced and coping with whatever life brings. And as one member put it, for me, mental health is about having the ability to navigate the stress and challenges I face, in a healthy and functional way. You are not always going to be okay and that's fine. So putting that same question to you, what does mental health mean to you personally at the moment? What works for me, may not work for you and most importantly, our needs can change over time. I was actually very resistant to try meditation and therapy. It felt like maybe I was failing in some way. Thankfully, a lot has changed in the almost 13 years since I sought out some help. Therapy is far more accepted than perhaps it was, or at least folks seem to be more comfortable saying they are seeing a therapist. I would've shied away from sharing that news 13 years ago. But now I think it's important to share things like that to help...