Staying Mentally Healthy
Our mental health is vital to our overall health and well-being. Everybody faces challenges in life – and many of the most difficult are the mental mountains we must climb. Over the past two years, mental health has come to the forefront in our culture with many high profile entertainers, athletes and celebrities talking about this issue and being outspoken about how their mental issues have affected their performances and personal lives.
Anxiety, fear and worry affect all of us. But when these become overwhelming and over take us, then we need to assess our lives and get help. How do we know if we are just having a bad day, feeling normal stress or having a real problem? It’s one thing to be afraid to give a speech in public, it’s another thing to not be able to get out of bed for days or weeks at a time due to anxiety.
Here is a definition and key component to answering the question as to when we need to seek help from the Mayo Clinic.
“It’s the overall wellness of how you think, regulate your feelings and behave. Sometimes people experience a significant disturbance in this mental functioning. A mental disorder may be present when patterns or changes in thinking, feeling or behaving cause distress or disrupt a person’s ability to function.”
- Mayo Clinic
The key in this definition is when thinking, feelings or behavior cause distress or disrupt you as a person to the point where you can no longer function properly as a human being. How can you measure that or if you go for help to a counselor, doctor or psychologist, how will they assess this? According to the Mayo Clinic, they will look at the following:
Check your medical history and mental health history of your family
They will check the current state of your mind and circumstances
They will ask if you have had recent changes in your life such as a trauma, a loss, the death of a loved one or pet, at work or with your health?
They may want to talk with your family or close friends to see if you have changed
They will inquire about changes in your personality, eating or sleeping patterns
They will check to see if you have disconnected or withdrawn from life recently
They will look for prolonged sadness, depression or chronic anxiety
This is part of a check list that professionals will use to evaluate you. You can ask yourself these questions. Deep down, you probably have a good sense if things have changed for you. You can probably feel that your thinking or feelings have changed – that they have become darker and more negative.
In the Hebrew language that the Old Testament was written in, it doesn’t distinguish between the mind, the body and spirit like we do in English. They don’t separate these. They treat the person as a whole. They understood that each part of us affects the other parts. We have come to verify this through medical science in such things as the mind-body connection. Research shows that when a person has cancer, which is a physical disease, it also affects the mind and spirit. What affects our minds will affect our bodies and what affects our bodies will affect our spirit and what affects our spirit will affect our minds.
We are vastly complicated and connected at all levels as human beings. This is why it is important to remember that the God who created you has as much interest in your mental and emotional health as He does in your physical or spiritual health. The bible is full of places where it reminds us to “guard our hearts” and “renew our minds” and that “God wants to restore our souls.” God cares deeply about those things that cause excessive fear or anxiety within us.
We are reminded of this truth:
“God is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit”
- Psalm 34:18
God never makes fun of a person who is dealing with mental challenges or is having a nervous breakdown. As we see in Jesus, He came near to those who were broken – whether that brokenness was of a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual nature. He loves all of us and extends His grace equally to each of us.
Because of this truth, we need to take care of our bodies, our spirits, as well as our emotions and mental health. Make sure you are taking time to care for yourself. Make sure you are sleeping well, eating well, observing a Sabbath rest, spending time with uplifting friends, doing things that bring you joy and worshipping the One who created you.
And if you need help, please reach out! It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help, but a sign of strength! Even the best get weary and confused from time to time. The strong get the help they need so they can be restored to healthy living and thinking and continue on loving and serving God and those around them.
If you need to get help, go to the homepage of our website where there are both national and local numbers to find help for mental health challenges.
May God bless you and stay sound in body and mind!
See you next month,
Jack
