Just because someone seems happy or seems strong it doesn’t mean they are feeling that way inside. Sometimes we should just ask the simple question: “How are you feeling today?”.
Sometimes it is those who appear the strongest or the happiest who are feeling lots of pain, pain on the inside. In my experience of situationally triggered depression, I had many people come to me during, and afterwards, and say, “Wow, I never would have expected this to happen to you”. Or “I never knew you were going through this”.
This made me think, that there are probably many others who feel this way, but because they don’t feel able to talk about it, the people around them just don’t know what is really happening. They don’t know the turmoil they might be experiencing inside. Until something breaks.
Anxiety, depression and other forms of mental illness are hugely personal to those experiencing it and therefore it makes it important that we ask the simple question above. Open up the discussion. Create a safe environment. Make it okay to talk. Genuinely making it ok not to be ok.
The issue of mental ill-health and the impact it has on the person can be very scary. Often the person’s friends and families are left feeling bad that they didn’t see the signs. There is a simple step we can all take; that will help issues of mental ill-health be discovered so the person can be helped and supported much earlier and in a much better way. Talking. The more we open up and talk to each other about it. Be it down the pub, over a cuppa, at work, sitting next to your mate at a match, or driving along in a white van.
Let’s talk... keep well