5 reasons why your mental health might still be suffering! 🤔
Honestly, I was a little stumped for a subject to write about this week, other than to continue to develop our Building Blocks Model for Mental Health, which we haven’t finished. And yet, it was only when I was collating an application to act as Trustee for a Charity that it occurred to me. I was looking back over my experience and skillset and there’s a big gap in my CV. It seems that through the inactivity imposed on me during COVID I’ve lost my sense of self identity; lost sight of the person I once was.
Looking at my life in a timeline, certain aspects of my ‘being’ ground to a halt during the 3 years 2020-2023, including those that are critical for good mental health. These include:
giving back to society,
bonding with my community through my social and physical environment,
opportunities for growth, learning and development,
an ability to pursue many things. This is because we were so prohibited and made scared of doing anything, including being with each other, and
my belief in what I thought I knew was crushed. I saw a variety of issues with new eyes and fresh information, which can be very unsettling.
Looking at our Building Blocks Model for human mental health, this explains why I suffered so greatly during the COVID measures. In these blogs, we are yet to talk about belief systems and pursuit as aides for good mental health and we will discuss these in future publications.
As I continue my digital nomad journey through Indonesia, I am taking time to reflect. This is something we do on our retreats, and it can be so encouraging to look back with a view to moving forward. Being away always gives me the space to do that, partly by removing some of the day-to-day distractions.
Since revisiting my CV, my past experiences and my knowledge in my capacity for more, I am determined to:
give back,
continue improving my social environment by reconnecting and getting more involved,
continue my work to support people with both their physical and mental health; especially having seen a different perspective during the COVID years. I’m loving continuing to grow in this area and am encouraged by recent improvements in client health.
continue to strive to learn new things. I’ve been enjoying conversing in Spanish with people I’ve met travelling, but I’m finding my lack of vocabulary frustrating and I intend to revisit this; and
readjust my belief system, based on new information.
It seems I have deviated from who I am intrinsically, and have allowed myself to be badly affected by the Government regime. In calling myself out, I wanted to encourage you to do the same; to:
look at your previous experience, skillset and who you are,
remind yourself what you have achieved, and
what adversity you have come through.
What is it that you see when you reflect on your life and achievements? Don’t just think about it, write it down; in doing so, you are activating a different part of your brain that will help embed and fortify these acknowledgements. Through this, maybe you will also have some insights and be able to move forward with courage that:
you’ve got this,
the skills and experience you have developed over your life are very much still there,
you have always got through things in the past, and
these skillsets will be available to you again when you need them.
What 3 things will you commit to? Also, not what, but who do you need to help get you there? I’d love to hear from you.
So, I encourage you to look back at your CV, or your achievements and your contributions to this world, write them down and celebrate them. It doesn’t matter how small; what matters is that you truly feel like they are achievements and are proud of them. Then use this as inspiration to move forward.
If you’d like encouragement and coaching around this, we are very happy to help, feel free to book a consultation.
Remember, you’ve got this.
Well wishes,
Andie. x
Image: courtesy of Pixabay