…Is mental health a priority for you?
If not, it should be. According to experts, mental health is just as important as your physical well-being, if not more so. If your mind doesn’t feel good, your body will follow with all sorts of negative emotions. This means that you’ll feel sluggish, tired, unmotivated, and fatigued.
This is why everybody says that if you put your mind to something, you have all the chances of making it a reality. Speaking of that, when you’re mentally sick, every day of your life might be impacted. It’s hard to put into words how it can influence everything you do, making even the most routine tasks feel hard and annoying.
Managing your condition becomes 2nd nature, and you might forget what it’s like to be free of it. Having someone else empathize with your predicament is a blessing at times. It might make you feel loved and cared for and less alone.
We are strong believers that mental health should be a priority for everyone, especially retirees. If you don’t believe us, we’re about to prove it to you. Read along with us to discover all the common challenges people with poor mental health go through in a day. Here they are:
1. Waking up
We start off this list by talking about the first challenge people with poor mental health face in a day: waking up and getting out of bed. It might sound like it’s made up, but it’s not. When there’s something that doesn’t make you feel good, the last thing you want to do is get ready for the day.
Even before you’ve had a chance to rub the sleep out of your eyes, the burden of your mental illness is already pressing down on you. Anxiety might cause you to feel frightened even before you’ve gotten out of bed. You might think that sleeping or being lazy in bed will help you forget how you feel and make the time go by easier, but it’s not true. It will acutely make you feel worse.
Moreover, your motivation might be so low that you feel like doing nothing, and the mere effort of accomplishing anything can be overwhelming.
…Did you know that mental health can actually make or break your day? It might seem hard to believe, but your brain has the power to influence you in a way you’ve never imagined!
2. Hopping in the shower
Do you remember those movies you might’ve watched where there was a character that was so depressed, they didn’t even want to shower? All they did was lie in bed, eat bad foods, not look in the mirror, and not take care of their bodies at all.
Well, something like this can happen in real life too, especially when someone’s mental health is not exactly at its peak. When your mind doesn’t feel good, even after you finally managed to get out of bed, you might feel like you’ve reached your goal for the day.
Only the thought of walking to the bathroom, seeing yourself in the mirror, and taking a shower can feel like it drains you of energy. Even though it’s good to listen to your body and do things that feel right, it’s not okay to be in a place like this for more than 2-3 days. If you ever feel like you’re not well, it’s best to talk to someone and tell them how you feel.
3. Getting dressed
The next challenge someone with poor mental health will face is getting dressed. This might require making many choices, and this is especially challenging when you don’t have that much confidence in yourself.
It’s possible that you’ll be feeling very unsure of yourself, to the point that even something as seemingly small as putting on socks seems like an enormous task. No matter what you wear, a lack of confidence can make you feel like a potato in a bin bag.
Many mornings begin with you looking through your closet, trying on what seems like every possible combination of clothing, only to sit on the floor, frustrated and maybe in tears, since nothing seems to fit quite right.
Putting on clothing and moving on with your day might be a time-consuming and taxing process that requires a lot of mental and physical resources. When your mental health isn’t as stable as it typically is, your confidence levels quickly drop, and you don’t feel good about yourself.
…Have you ever felt like mental health has a big impact on your body image? Tell us your story!
4. Eating and drinking
Planning and preparing meals is a lot of labor, and it requires organization and planning. As we’ve previously said, when you feel mentally exhausted, you want to be lazy and do things that don’t require much energy or thought.
When it comes to food, it can take a long time to prepare a meal, and there might be too many procedures for your strained brain to remember. Pre-packaged goods might become more convenient and time-efficient than preparing fresh and healthy dishes.
Poor mental health, as well as the adverse effects of certain medications, might have a huge impact on your ability to eat and drink. This might lead you to eat too much or too little.
In order to deal with their mental illness, some people might turn to food or alcohol. They look for a way to cope with their thoughts and feelings, so they might drink excessively, indulge in comfort eating, or consciously limit their food intake.
Some of them might have a lot of guilt about the ways they deal with stress, and this might cause them to eat and drink in secret, and avoid social settings that might be awkward because of food or alcohol.
…Did you know that mental health can have an impact on your diet?
5. Being all by themselves
If you’re struggling with mental health issues, you might find it difficult to spend time with friends and loved ones as well as to spend time alone. When you’re alone, it’s possible that you’ll have to face the emotions and ideas that you’d rather not deal with. On the other hand, it’s also possible that being alone is the only time some of us feel really secure.
For some people, being alone gives them the chance to process their thoughts, analyze the way they feel, and come up with an idea to resolve all the issues they have. But for others, things can be even harder when they don’t have anyone around them to talk to.
If you think that your mental health is not exactly your biggest ally at the moment and you feel like you are truly having a hard time, you can always call a hotline, and if you don’t feel secure being alone, let your loved ones know and talk to them about the things that make you feel bad and tired.
6. Being around people
For some people who struggle with their mental health, being among other people might be just as difficult as being all by themselves. Sometimes it’s tough to have other people intrude on their personal space, it might make them feel threatened and frightened, or they might have the impression that they have to pretend in order to keep their true feelings a secret.
When you’re feeling socially anxious, your brain might start making up excuses for yourself, convincing you that you’re not as good as other people, that no one likes you, and that everyone around you is judging you harshly for being a burden.
Worrying about how you seem to others is natural, but that shouldn’t be something you always have on your mind. Sometimes it’s hard to stay up with a discussion, recall what was said, and pay attention to what’s being said.
It’s common to feel pressure to put on an acceptable front in social situations; you might be reluctant to let others know you’re struggling emotionally for fear of their reaction.
On the other hand, you might secretly hope that they do know so that you might finally take off your smiling face. Spending time with other people can be exhausting, leaving you longing for solitude and rest. Don’t forget that if there’s something bothering you, it’s best to be honest about it and to seek help if you need it.
7. Relationships
Did you know that mental health can influence the way you see relationships? That’s true; it can really have an impact on how you connect with other people.
Anxiety might make it difficult to approach new people, which can be a problem if you’re actively dating. And that is not all. If you’re in a relationship, whether you’re married or not, it can have negative impacts on the connection between the 2 of you.
You might not be able to respond to messages or show that much enthusiasm for dates when your thoughts are muddled by feelings of despair. But if you don’t want to have negative consequences, it’s definitely a good idea to talk to your partner about the things that make you feel lethargic.
When you’re in a committed relationship or marriage, your mental illness might seem like an unwanted 3rd wheel. However, together with your significant other, you’ll need to find your way through the hard terrain of mental illness and help each other along the way.
…Want to know more about mental health? Then click on this article to discover all the things you have to know: Anxiety Is Different In Seniors. Do You Know The Warning Signs?
