Connectivity

As mental health awareness week has now drawn to a close for this year at least, it’s good to ask what did we learn and what will we do differently? If you haven’t read it already, here are my top 10 tips for thriving mental health https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/top-10-tips-thriving-mental-health-luen-thompson

Taking this all one stage further it seemed to me that good mental health is born out of being and feeling connected to others, to a purpose, to roles and to things.......a sense of belonging, being part of something, feeling needed and wanted, achieving things. Of course many things can happen in life to undermine these feelings, but if you have a balance of things you feel connected to you will continue to thrive. if you lose you job for example  you still have a network of friends, so you don’t feel you’ve lost your identity and you may have more time to make new ones. If you are facing a period of illness you may be able to reconnect yourself to things you didn’t have time for before during your recovery, like baking or gardening.

It has never ceased to amaze me how lovely people are when you let them in a little bit and make a connection. Recently my friend’s dad passed away. She said the nicest and most unexpected thing that happened during that time was that someone gave her a red azalea (red being her dad’s favourite colour) and told her that the azalea would flower every year around the time of her dad’s birthday and it would be like him coming into the garden to say hello.

Little gestures can mean alot, so I was really pleased to support this Kickstarter campaign https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pookyh/together-we-can-cards-to-send-to-friends-facing-ha?ref=user_menu Such a simple thing, a card for someone facing a hard time, showing you care, making that connection. Only a few more investors needed to bring this to life, so do get involved.

So here’s what I’ve learned, stay connected, invest in the things that matter to you and let people know you care.