Why mental health is so important - Step 0

Why and how to take care of your mental health?

Those posts are fragments from my book “Short Practical Guide to Mental Health“, therefore they're, exceptionally, behind the paywall. You can purchase the book here.

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln.

The title of this chapter couldn’t be more accurate. Getting rid of mental health problems is the absolute foundation for everything else. Literally, your mental condition influences how you view the world, and how you view the world influences everything else. When you are struggling with mental problems, from suicide thoughts to procrastination, it’s extremely hard to get anything done and move your life forward. Even when you eventually manage to start doing something, you will be extremely inefficient at it, and the task will become boring in no time. Sounds familiar?

When you are in good mental condition, even things that may seem horribly scary right now become easier. In the vast majority of cases, all the work waiting for you today, the call you need to make, the appointment you really don’t want to go to; those things aren’t scary or difficult to do by themselves, it's how you feel making them so. Try to recall the time you had a rapid rush of positive emotion after something good happened in your life. Would making a call be that hard then? Do you still perceive this activity as difficult and frightening after you hang up, or was it the fear of the unknown that strikes especially hard when you don’t feel well?

Mental well-being is a complex and unique experience for each individual. While positive emotions can make daily tasks feel easier, it's essential to recognize that mental health challenges can sometimes make these same activities appear overwhelming. Through understanding and educating yourself on the topic, you can learn to navigate these ups and downs more effectively. That’s why getting an understanding of how your emotions and current mental state, both are temporary, influence your actions is so important.

But what if you don’t even want to do so? What if your brain will do everything but help itself? As even seemingly easy things become harder and harder, you need to start small. I know the urge and pressure to do anything but “sacrifice” a while to calm down and meditate or write your thoughts down.

The crucial thing to understand before we move any further with this book is - work on your mental health before you work on anything else.