#themindworkout

[everybodyhasabrain]

Did you trust yourself this week?

[everybodyhasabrain]

There's a lot in the news right now about mental health but the discussion is often framed in a way that suggests other people have these extreme mental illnesses and you should keep an eye out to spot when those other people are struggling with these diseases. But mental health doesn't work like that. As much as people like to say that mental illness is the same as physical illness, it's not. There are no biological tests, no x-ray or biopsy or genetic screening that can identify somebody as having crossed the fuzzy, non-existent line that indicates they have a mental illness. Mental illness labels are made up by committees--constructed in office chairs, not discovered under microscopes.

Mental health is much more like physical fitness: we all have it, it's biological, and it's impacted by a variety of internal and external contextual factors that vary your capacity to handle experiences. Also, just physical fitness, we can take action to maintain our mental health, improve it, and recover from a state of poor mental health.

When we present mental health struggles as diseases, it's very easy for people to believe that mental heath isn't something they need to take care of or deal with because they don't have the 'disease'. But don't get caught up in an illness-first approach to mental health. Mental health isn't for OTHER people. It's for YOU. Everything in your life interacts with your mental health and fitness, just like everything in your life interacts with your physical health and fitness. We can all take care of both, every day, not as a reaction to problems, but a proactive action to build mental health.

- Mark

[everybodyhasabrain]

I didn't write The Mind Workout for a specific mental illness label or symptom because it doesn't matter if you're reacting to fear, or cravings, or voices, or jealousy, or horrifying intrusive thoughts or whatever it is that your brain happens to throw at you -- if that stuff is taking control of your life, it's only natural to struggle with your mental health. That's why so much of learning how to take care of your mental health and prevent mental illness is about learning how to be yourself while experiencing whatever you're experiencing inside or outside of your head. And that's something we can all work on. - Mark

[everybodyhasabrain]

If you're struggling to practice accepting the stuff in your head, try putting up a sticky note with a little reminder to embrace those uncertainties. Put it somewhere you often struggle with ruminating and catastrophising, like on your work computer.