When Self-Love means taking care of our Mental Health
“Self-love is a therapy for mental health.”
A pressing topic of the world nowadays is the concern that most people have a hard time figuring out because of how the society seemed to brand it. Many people think that “Self-Love” is being selfish and it caters the “ME, MYSELF & I attitude”. Even though many of us misunderstood Self-Love that way, allow me to straighten up things in this blog.
Self-love is defined as a regard to our own wellbeing and happiness. Self-love in this situation (and in this blog post specifically) is SELF-CARE.
Remember, self-care is a priority. We need to take care of ourselves first before we can extend our help, care and love to others. It’s not a luxury to give our self the love and care we deserve, only then we can fully share what we have to the people, the community around us and to the world at large.
Now, I am equating Self-Love/Care to our Mental Health because these topics go hand in hand. In order to take care of our mental health, we have to give importance to our self; “love and care of our self”. Although both are trendy topics, there’s still a great need to focus more on them… Self-love and care are misquoted to focus on treats like spas and beauty regimen, which is a skin-deep concern. A vanity! We have to look at it beyond and see it for the real importance. It’s positive effect to our senses.
Understanding self-love/care requires deeper understanding and a positive shift of mindset. It will require another full blog post for that. But don’t worry I will share more about that later on. For now, let me make it short. SELF-LOVE/CARE is taking care of the major aspects of our life: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and all of the sensory aspects.
Leaving our self-care unattended may lead us to depression and possibly end up to a deeper mental health issue. As a matter of fact, many people with mental health issues are untreated. Thus, a deteriorating a mental state has been affecting our quality of life.
What is MENTAL HEALTH then?
Sometimes we think that it is similar with mental illness, but illness is about disorders that occur in the brain such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Mental Health on the other hand, covers our social, psychological and emotional well-being. It is essential because it can affect every aspect of our life. It damages how we think, feel and act. It changes our mental and emotional state that eventually affects our physical action.
Mental health usually comes from stress. Over the course of our life we experience mental health problems with our thoughts, moods and behavior. Biological factors from our genes, life experiences like trauma, abuse and family history are few of the factors that contribute to mental health problems.
The good news is – we all can get the help we need.
The very first step to handling mental health issue to awareness. True, that most of the time people with depression are in a denial stage, therefore it is very much important that we keep an open communication with the people that we trust. Share what’s bothers you. Share what are the happenings in your life… What stresses you?, what is dragging you?…
Probably some of us might also find it hard to share it to our loved ones, because we don’t want to burden them. Well, an online therapy is an answer to this. BetterHelp is one of the leading mental health advocates who has licensed and experienced counselors that help individuals in this field, making it accessible, affordable and convenient.
A part of self-care (and love) is being honest to our self that we need help. And if we find ourselves lost in the midst of the people to whom we are not sure if they will understand or judge us, seeking an online-therapy could be our viable option.
The significance of self-care in our mental health matters because filling our life with empowering activities and happy thoughts help us to reframe negativity. Because whatever our mind holds, the more influence we have than we realize.
To get started visit www.BetterHelp.com.
Stay healthy and God bless,
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