Mental health awareness week 2020 (18th to 24th of May) kindness
This week is mental health awareness week 2020 and the topic this year is kindness (it was originally going to be sleep but due to the caronavirus pandemic and consequent lockdown it was thought kindness was more relevant and appropriate than ever).
I have shared my own mental health story so much, the only thing I need to mention is I struggle with my own mental health problems and did spend a year sectioned in hospital in 2015 because of being a high risk to myself ( so a similar situation to lockdown in some ways....although mentally I am actually alot stronger to deal with this situation now than I would have been even upto about 2 years ago).
Various mental health charities and organisations have been offering advice on how to cope with mental health during lockdown and for mental health awareness week they say Kindness both to ourselves and others are good for positive mental health and thinking back to my own mental health history there has been kindness even from strangers that has probably actually saved my life. ( I was once in a park taking an overdose, I'm not proud of the situation but I did take alot of overdoses between 2012 and 2014 due to ongoing mental health problems, a man actually asked if I was ok as I looked depressed obviously I didn't tell him I had taken an overdose but it did make me go and get help at the hospital so like I said those words of kindness to someone can make all the difference and save a life). During this lockdown I have had friends from choir message me and had zoom meetings with some, knowing people care and feeling connected even if online does make all the difference, although bullying throughout my school and even college days contributed to alot of my mental health problems, kindness from others makes you trust people again, there are alot of kind people, as I have got older I now believe I won't let bullies win and affect my life anymore.
Giving kindness also makes us feel good about ourselves, both to people and animals (I can't imagine a life without pets to care for, they are good company too).I worked as a support worker/ nursing assistant for 10 years in various places with adults with mental health problems and learning disabilities, I also did agency shifts in older peoples care homes and it is so rewarding helping other people, to me it wasn't just a job, it was a vocation and I got accepted to train as a mental health nurse as I felt I could have made more of a difference. Unfortunately I wasn't well enough myself but hopefully one day I will get back to being able to get back to work helping others again once I have dealt with my own issues in therapy. Like I said helping others and being kind to others wasn't just a job, I did voluntary work too including for a charity to help combat loneliness in older people called "friendship at home" as I got frustrated working in older people's care homes that were often understaffed and so were task orientated, washing and feeding people but not able to spend quality time talking to them even if you could tell they were lonely and needed that emotional support, (although I would often go and talk to them on my break), so although i couldn't help in that way in my paid job i decided to volunteer for the charity to help others who needed that support and would visit an older man who lived on his own and just chat to him for a couple of hours, although I have social anxiety and was really quiet when I was younger I actually love talking to people and finding out about them. Acts of kindness can be small and you might not even notice or think you are doing them , I love helping people enjoy horses my other passion and I often let people groom and ride my horse Warwick including a little girl who loves him and grooms and rides him, during lockdown I am missing her and so is Warwick.
During this lockdown it is more important than ever to be kind to ourselves too, something I struggle with at the best of times. I often beat myself up for feeling not being good enough in most life situations and feeling I was too fat and worthless ( in the past I self harmed alot for that reason). But we will have good and bad days. At the start of lockdown I think everyone felt pressured to learn new skills and hobbies and thought they should be busy all the time and then as time went on felt bad when they were having a down day about the situation and would beat themselves up about it. We are allowed bad days, a bad day might be one where we are tearful and emotional and unmotivated but it is one day it will pass. We are also allowed rest days too, doing too much is as bad as too little, in life in general ( in my work life I did often work alot of hours to hide from my own emotional issues and to please others) and you burn out, it is about getting the balance right.
There are lots of ways we can and should be kind to ourselves, having a good routine making sure we get enough rest and sleep, eating healthy but enjoying some treats and doing some exercise that we enjoy doing, going for a walk somewhere nice and being mindful of the beauty of where you are is probably healthier than pounding a treadmill just to burn calories (this is my opinion as someone who has suffered with eating disorders for years and have had times of being obsessed with exercise to burn calories until I had heart failure so can no longer do lots of exercise). I would now rather walk the dogs or ride a horse or get in a swimming pool because I enjoy it not because of a goal of seeing how many calories I can burn. Being kind to ourselves could be allowing ourselves that chocolate bar we fancy, or having a pamper session having a bath and a face mask. Being kind to ourselves is also making sure we continue to do the things we enjoy doing even on bad days. Singing in a choir has helped me so much during the last couple of years and especially during this lockdown, online is not the same as in person obviously but is the next best thing, it keeps us connected, enjoying what we love doing with people who love it as much as you do until we can be back together again in person "we will meet again" I think has become a slogan for alot of people during lockdown I just hope it will be fairly soon even if socially distanced.
We can give and receive kindness in lots of ways so just remember "Be kind always" it was the saying at the beginning of the year for suicide prevention after Caroline Flack killed herself due to unkind ness in the media but we need to remember it at all times for ourselves and others for positive mental health.
I have shared my own mental health story so much, the only thing I need to mention is I struggle with my own mental health problems and did spend a year sectioned in hospital in 2015 because of being a high risk to myself ( so a similar situation to lockdown in some ways....although mentally I am actually alot stronger to deal with this situation now than I would have been even upto about 2 years ago).
Various mental health charities and organisations have been offering advice on how to cope with mental health during lockdown and for mental health awareness week they say Kindness both to ourselves and others are good for positive mental health and thinking back to my own mental health history there has been kindness even from strangers that has probably actually saved my life. ( I was once in a park taking an overdose, I'm not proud of the situation but I did take alot of overdoses between 2012 and 2014 due to ongoing mental health problems, a man actually asked if I was ok as I looked depressed obviously I didn't tell him I had taken an overdose but it did make me go and get help at the hospital so like I said those words of kindness to someone can make all the difference and save a life). During this lockdown I have had friends from choir message me and had zoom meetings with some, knowing people care and feeling connected even if online does make all the difference, although bullying throughout my school and even college days contributed to alot of my mental health problems, kindness from others makes you trust people again, there are alot of kind people, as I have got older I now believe I won't let bullies win and affect my life anymore.
Giving kindness also makes us feel good about ourselves, both to people and animals (I can't imagine a life without pets to care for, they are good company too).I worked as a support worker/ nursing assistant for 10 years in various places with adults with mental health problems and learning disabilities, I also did agency shifts in older peoples care homes and it is so rewarding helping other people, to me it wasn't just a job, it was a vocation and I got accepted to train as a mental health nurse as I felt I could have made more of a difference. Unfortunately I wasn't well enough myself but hopefully one day I will get back to being able to get back to work helping others again once I have dealt with my own issues in therapy. Like I said helping others and being kind to others wasn't just a job, I did voluntary work too including for a charity to help combat loneliness in older people called "friendship at home" as I got frustrated working in older people's care homes that were often understaffed and so were task orientated, washing and feeding people but not able to spend quality time talking to them even if you could tell they were lonely and needed that emotional support, (although I would often go and talk to them on my break), so although i couldn't help in that way in my paid job i decided to volunteer for the charity to help others who needed that support and would visit an older man who lived on his own and just chat to him for a couple of hours, although I have social anxiety and was really quiet when I was younger I actually love talking to people and finding out about them. Acts of kindness can be small and you might not even notice or think you are doing them , I love helping people enjoy horses my other passion and I often let people groom and ride my horse Warwick including a little girl who loves him and grooms and rides him, during lockdown I am missing her and so is Warwick.
During this lockdown it is more important than ever to be kind to ourselves too, something I struggle with at the best of times. I often beat myself up for feeling not being good enough in most life situations and feeling I was too fat and worthless ( in the past I self harmed alot for that reason). But we will have good and bad days. At the start of lockdown I think everyone felt pressured to learn new skills and hobbies and thought they should be busy all the time and then as time went on felt bad when they were having a down day about the situation and would beat themselves up about it. We are allowed bad days, a bad day might be one where we are tearful and emotional and unmotivated but it is one day it will pass. We are also allowed rest days too, doing too much is as bad as too little, in life in general ( in my work life I did often work alot of hours to hide from my own emotional issues and to please others) and you burn out, it is about getting the balance right.
There are lots of ways we can and should be kind to ourselves, having a good routine making sure we get enough rest and sleep, eating healthy but enjoying some treats and doing some exercise that we enjoy doing, going for a walk somewhere nice and being mindful of the beauty of where you are is probably healthier than pounding a treadmill just to burn calories (this is my opinion as someone who has suffered with eating disorders for years and have had times of being obsessed with exercise to burn calories until I had heart failure so can no longer do lots of exercise). I would now rather walk the dogs or ride a horse or get in a swimming pool because I enjoy it not because of a goal of seeing how many calories I can burn. Being kind to ourselves could be allowing ourselves that chocolate bar we fancy, or having a pamper session having a bath and a face mask. Being kind to ourselves is also making sure we continue to do the things we enjoy doing even on bad days. Singing in a choir has helped me so much during the last couple of years and especially during this lockdown, online is not the same as in person obviously but is the next best thing, it keeps us connected, enjoying what we love doing with people who love it as much as you do until we can be back together again in person "we will meet again" I think has become a slogan for alot of people during lockdown I just hope it will be fairly soon even if socially distanced.
We can give and receive kindness in lots of ways so just remember "Be kind always" it was the saying at the beginning of the year for suicide prevention after Caroline Flack killed herself due to unkind ness in the media but we need to remember it at all times for ourselves and others for positive mental health.
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