Protect Your Mental Health
Mental Health means, “a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being” Why in our communities (Black. Brown, and Indigenous) space is not held for us when it comes down to our mental health? Could it be because those spaces weren’t made for us while we were growing up and now, therefore, grapple with taking charge of it, meaning not allowing people to interrupt, disregard, disrespect, abuse, use and manipulate us? Why are we perpetrated to be strong and out of this world beings? This is coded language that we must recognize for what it is, this was said to our ancestors when they were enslaved, strong strapping animals (not even recognized as human beings) while white people were called fair, not meant for heavy labor, and must be protected at all times. This dangerous and demonic narrative is still glaringly alive today and it must be destroyed, torn down and burned, to never grow again.
We all witnessed how Tennis Sensation Naomi Osako withdrew from the French Open citing Mental Health reasons. Now if anyone has been paying attention to this young lady, you can tell that she struggles with these preposterous ineffective interviewing that they subject athletes to. In one interview that I saw, Naomi said, “I’m just really sad right now” it wasn’t because of the game, she was having a mental health crisis, and let me tell you I was so broken for her at that moment because it was so clear that they heard her but didn’t care. After all, in their demonic minds, they were saying, “What does she have to be sad about?” For many of us, these are the same questions posed by our family and friends. And here is the crux of the situation, most of us suffer from anxiety, depression, and mental illness, if you grew up in a religious family you were told to just pray it away. Don’t get me wrong prayer is phenomenal and it does work but God also prompts us to seek out therapists. Now He created them so why do we feel shame for even considering it and Lord knows the church makes it worse, (for many people the church is where their trauma stems from) but this is a topic for another day, coming real soon. So let me tell you why? It is because our families were never encouraged to do so for themselves, so how can they possibly encourage us to do it.
I have learned a lot of lessons during the pandemic and being in quarantine. One of my biggest lessons is taking care of my mental health at all costs and by any means necessary. I currently don’t have a therapist but I am looking for one because I am not ashamed to say I want one. When I look back on my adolescence, teen-aged years, and adulthood, I can see faces of people who I grew up with that I now recognize as battling with their mental health. Comments that the elders would make about people being disrespectful, hardheaded, they are going to die young, they are slow, and the remarks went on and on. I know these words were spoken because they heard the very same things when they were growing up, so it’s learned behavior, a vicious cycle, generational curses, and trauma. Healing wasn’t spoken to them, so how could they speak healing to us. So this is why each of us must get help, you can start here; https://therapyforblackgirls.com/ Do command the space for our peace of mind, protect our mental health, allow ourselves to heal, say no, show up as our authentic self, allow ourselves to be planted, pruned, watered, and bloom. Don’t do it for anybody else, “DO IT FOR YOURSELF” - BECAUSE FOR MANY OF US IT IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.
Until My Next Post…We Are To Be Each Other’s Keeper!
Photo Credit: Isha Gaines
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