Mental Health Awareness Week.

6 October-12 October 2019

Society has set aside specific months, weeks, days that are dedicated to raising awareness about various issues. For some it is all about hashtags on social media and others the definition of what the awareness truly stands for is lost. When it comes to serious issues like Mental Health Awareness Week, the true definition runs way deeper for mental illness victims on a daily and those who have lost their lives because of it.

For those who have not experienced depression before, it is very much easy to look at other people and be judgmental and make various assumptions. If you break your leg, you visit the doctor and they cast it up, the next thing you know, you are on your journey to recovery. When there is an epidemic, we take preemptive measures to getting sick. We seek medication ASAP if we catch it, so why is it, discussing about mental health is taboo? Why do we make it difficult get care for mental health? Why are there stigma behind something that a greater population suffers from? Heaviness that this discussion brings to the room whenever brought up in front of individuals who are ignorant.

Thinking of the stigma, some black women suffering from mental illness face and medical treatment, the stigma associated in black communities it heartening. To think of how there are people who are struggling at this very moment and are contemplating suicide at this very moment, cause trust me it is not a secret that close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds worldwide. We fall sick- We seek help- We undergo a medical treatment- We feel better. This is the same drill with mental illness due an imbalance in chemicals in our brain causing us to feel ill.

The significance resembled by mental health awareness week, is the unedited it is more than just a hashtag. Months, weeks, days dedicated to certain issues mean a lot than an Ad. A lot maybe sensationalized and glossed over due to the realness of the issue to the audience who may see the filtered truth and scroll on.

Not all of us have experienced mental health issues, therefore one would conclude that the meaning of mental health week or day is not of much value to them as to someone who has had personal experience with mental illness. But fact is everyone knows someone, who happens to know someone with a mental illness. And I am here to say there is absolutely no shame talking about it. You may have a parent, an aunt, a brother, a sister, or a friend who has/is struggling with mental health or has lost their lives.

Our mental health matters more than your career.

Our mental health matters more than your reputation.

Our mental health matters more than your schedule.

Our mental health matter more than your money.

Our mental health matters more than your relationship.

Our mental health matters more than your pride.

Because we matter, we are worthy of love, capable of amazing things, allowed to express ourselves and able to attend to our needs.

Let us all treat mental health awareness week/day for what it really is and dissect its truth.