Mental Health is for Everyone

Written by Step Above Stigma's Vice President of Marketing, Adriana Mangos.

For each and every one of us, taking care of ourselves means looking after both our mental and physical health. Keeping mentally healthy is just as important as keeping physically healthy when it comes to maintaining our wellness. We all experience highs and lows in our mental health. We can have good, bad, or okay days. We have our worries, fears, and stresses; things that keep us up at night or race through our minds during the day. This is perfectly normal! But it’s important to be aware of our mental health so that we can take care of ourselves accordingly.

Having low periods in your mental health does not mean that you have a mental illness. We all struggle to manage our mental health at times. Some people have been struggling for longer than others (I, personally, just recently began struggling with my mental health). But it’s important to understand that although someone may seem extremely confident or happy, they may have their own internal struggles that they are trying to hide or are trying to get through on their own.

During my first year of university, I started struggling with my mental health—especially during stressful times like exam seasons. Not knowing much about mental health, I didn’t know how to cope, why I felt the way I did, or where to go to seek help. Looking back onto this past year, I now understand what mental health means to me, and how I can help myself and support others in the future.

The first step in understanding mental health and getting through our personal struggles is to remember that we are not alone in the battles we face. Sometimes, we might feel alone. We might feel like no one understands us; like they’ll never comprehend what we’re going through. We might think, “How could they possibly know how I feel?” But it’s important to remember that there are always people whose struggles are similar to ours and who might understand the way we feel. Talking about mental health makes us stronger. Actively taking steps to reflect on our mental health makes us stronger. We shouldn’t feel the need to hide or be ashamed of our struggles. Mental health is a fundamental part of all of us, and it is not something that should be swept under the rug due to fear of judgment or because we’re too busy with the world around us to address our mental wellness. Managing our mental health makes us stronger. ​