What's the Point in Allocating 1 Week a Year to Mental Health Awareness?
September 23 -29 is mental health awareness week here in NZ. The whole thing just pisses me off.
Here it is, 2024, and we still have to assign a week when we're meant to think about our mental health and that of others.
What fucking nonsense.
In this day and age, mental health awareness should be automatic. It should be something we take care of, each and every day.
There should be no need to assign one week a year for it.
Or is it just about the fund-raising? Maybe some white hat with a tiny bit of power is thinking “We should raise some money for mental health. People will donate to that, it's such a worthy cause. I don't know where exactly we'll put that money yet, and of course, our fees, admin and costs will need to come out of it. But yes, lets spend one week this year raising money for (the blanket term) mental health.”
Here's the thing. We need to make mental health an every day conversation.
52 weeks of the year. Not just one.
It frustrates the shit out of me that we have to allocate a certain time to focus on this because it gives us permission to forget about it for the other 51 weeks of the year.
A massive thank you to all of my subscribers and supporters. I'm grateful to each and every one of you.
Please consider purchasing a paid subscription, if you're able, as writing is my full-time occupation and this is how I intend to raise the funds for my retirement in a gloomy old castle, on top of a rocky cliff, somewhere in Scotland.
For $5US per month, you'll get advanced access to my serialized novel that I publish each Wednesday, a free copy of my ebook, Depression; Sucks and access to monthly zoom calls.
Can you remember the last time you said to someone “How are you?”
Now. Can you remember the last time you said to someone “How are you?,” and it was more than just a throwaway greeting? (I know this is one that I'm often guilty of).
When was the last time you said to someone “I'm really struggling with my mental health right now, I think I'm sliding into Depression?”
Have you ever said that? Why not?
You've probably got a few answers to the why not question.
And that's the problem.
Those of us who live with Depression have a responsibility to talk about it. We need to educate others about what it’s like to live with the demon. And trust me, there is fast becoming more of us than there is of them.
So, why are we so quiet?
Because we're scared of the stigma and discrimination and plain old ridicule and disbelief that we just might receive.
How do we change that?
We talk about it.
So that those who don't experience Depression become less afraid of it. So that those of use who do experience it feel less like a freak and more like someone who has something extra to live with. Something that gives us more empathy, more tolerance and more understanding than many others have.
And we need to do this for longer than 7 days each year.