Togetherness Not Aloneness Creates Mental Health
Nikki Bush, Business Speaker
Leading the way to increased team performance and bottom line impact
“Sobbing and useless is great. Sobbing and useless is a billion times better than dead. A billion times. Thank you for choosing sobbing and useless over dead….Don’t kill yourself. Suffer here with us. We need you with us. We’ve not forgotten you. You are our hero. Stay.” This quote is from Stay, a book written by Jennifer Michael Hecht, PhD after losing two friends to suicide.
Everyone needs support from time to time when it comes to their mental health, be it a small wobble or a big earthquake. There is help out there to carry you through life’s tough patches, whether it’s a friend, healthcare worker, coach, therapist, some body work or even medication.
In my own journey with trauma, loss and grief, I have leant on all of the above including anti-depressants and sleeping pills that I swore I would never use in my lifetime, but were essential under the traumatic circumstances I experienced after my husband was murdered in our home.
I often tell my audiences that I could not have got back onto the stage without the many people who have supported my process. It took an army of people, and opening myself up to support over a number of years, in the devastating aftermath of our family tragedy, to thrive again.
You do not operate in a vacuum. People are an essential part of your mental health and your mental wealth. Don’t shut people out. Isolation makes what you are going through even more crippling.
Do not cry alone. There is a real gift in crying with others. I know.
As Jennifer Michael Hecht says, “Sobbing and useless is great. Sobbing and useless is a billion times better than dead. A billion times. Thank you for choosing sobbing and useless over dead….“
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It’s Mental Health month: For a snapshot of my insights on dancing with disruption of any kind that may have knocked you off your centre, click below:
For a longer in-depth read, get hold of my book, Future-proof Yourself (Penguin Random House, 2021).
Have a great week.
Director at Isinyithi Companies | CorrISA Gold Medallist | InspiringFiftySA 2019 Winner
2 年Thank you Nikki - so valuable to share stories and share hope
Education Specialist and Management Support- Passionate about leadership, empowerment, and collaboration; cultivating environments where talents thrive for collective success.
2 年So powerful. Sharing our stories and choosing to be vulnerable in that way, makes everyone including the storyteller, stronger. Thankyou ?? #strongertogether #peopledevelopment
Leading the way to increased team performance and bottom line impact
2 年Madeleine Black, I'd love your take on this.