Are You Struggling?
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We all struggle. We all struggle mentally and physically. None of us are the same yet we relate to one another in many ways without realising. This post is dedicated to a friend of mine who messaged me, requesting I write a blog post about it.
What exactly? Mental illness. Unfortunately, I'm not able to cover every mental illness, however, hopefully most of what I say will apply to whichever one that's real for you.
My friend's main point was how she'd experienced a panic attack after leaving her bottle in a lecture. She then began to panic more about the fact that she was panicking over something "so small". What she wanted to stress the importance of here was that no matter what we struggle with, we all struggle in some ways.
Two people can have their left legs broken, yet one may be able to climb a mountain easily, whilst the other one struggles. Two people can have the same mental illness but one might find a certain thing to be a big deal, whilst the other one doesn't. You understand what I'm trying to get across.
Whilst I say this, I also want to bring awareness to the fact that no matter what form of mental health issues we may or may not experience in our lifetime, reassuringly, there'll always be somebody who can relate to your exact experience. In that sense, you're never alone.
However, you're not any less of a person for finding something apparently minor to be a big deal. You're a human being trying to find your way, just like everyone else. You should never feel ashamed for it. Most importantly, you should never be hard on yourself for it, you most certainly don't need that extra pressure!
One of my biggest struggles was anxiety, nowadays I tend to be more on top of it. Of course, I'm only human and just like anyone else I still have my “off” days. A big struggle of mine was social anxiety (still sometimes occurs but not like it used to), yet my biggest help of overcoming it has been communicating with people - my biggest fear!!
As terrifying as it sounds, the best way of dealing with a fear is to EXPOSE yourself to it. Easier said than done, but you're more than capable. The hardest part is convincing your mind.
As my friend said in the message to me, "everyone's strands of issues are different". At the end of the day, no matter who you are, no matter what kind of life you lead, you will face your own struggles and battles. As much as we'd ideally like to live life with no problems or issues, it doesn't work that way.
I always found the trickiest part of struggling was admitting that you needed help. Help is so frowned upon, it's almost looked upon as something to pity. But why?
It's okay to need a little help. It's okay to admit you're struggling. You, me, him, her, them - we all struggle at some points in our lives, and yes we WILL get through the dark days and come out at the other end. What's important to remember is that struggling, or reaching out for help is nothing to be ashamed of.
Allow yourself to grow and go through the motions. Do your best. Look after yourself, stop being so hard on yourself. Would you treat another in the same way? I don't think so. Give yourself love, you are more than deserving of it.
Ciao for now x
*Please note I am not a professional so please don't take anything I say literally. These views are my own and this is written with the intention of helping those who are currently struggling*