Happy World Mental Health day everyone!  This day is used to highlight issues, start conversations, remove stigma and to give you an opportunity to say “I’m not okay”.

I have often spoke about how anxious thoughts have plagued me since childhood and how meeting Scarlett’s needs, navigating an unhelpful system has exasperated this throughout my adult life.  I am a cocktail of flight versus fight chemicals, which can see me one day just being completely relentless in my battles to the point of burnout.  To the next day, not being able to remove my head from the sand.  I have spoken with many professionals over the years to try and address this, but sometimes the advice is not realistically achievable with being a parent to a complex needs child.

I know there is this ethos of altering your response to challenging situations in order to be happier- but when you feel like you are constantly being kicked in teeth, not listened too and that your child is being failed, no amount if inhale/exhale is going to change that.  Sometimes you need to be pumping full of ‘fight’ in order to get stuff done.  You need it to shout the loudest, you need it to write the millionth email, you need it to get through another night of sleep deprivation.  So, although it isn’t the greatest of emotions to have to comprehend, it can be necessary.

Since I started blogging a number of years ago, I have found there is therapeutic benefits of writing down my thoughts and feelings- especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed.  I expect this is why after so many years I have continued to do so.  I would like to share a poem I have written about my relationship with anxiety and how it effects me on a day to day basis.  I hope in writing this that it resonates with someone and makes them feel less alone in their battle:

 

This years theme is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’ and it is asking us to do two things:

  • What’s the world you want to see?

  • What’s the unique contribution you can make to turn that world into a reality?

The organisation Mind is asking for you to learn about Mental Health inequality and to ADD YOUR VOICE.

World Mental Health Day | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems

The website is full of resources and information for you to help promote awareness for this day; even a tweet or a share could help raise awareness for this very important day.

 

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