Helping People with Mental Health Issues Cope During the Holidays…
2020 has been filled with many challenges and obstacles. We, as a country, have dealt with layoff’s, terminations, evictions, business closures, city and state lockdowns, COVID-19, an unsurmountable amount of deaths, and a highly contentious presidential election – and it’s not even the end of the year yet! Now Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, and a lot of us are asking what is there to celebrate? A lot of people in my inner circle are expressing to me that they are uncertain about their financial status and they cannot provide a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas for their family.
I hear you all, but what I would like for everyone to remember is this - as bad as it seems right now it could absolutely be worse. You see, there are millions of people who are having it a lot worse than the majority of us. How could that be you might be asking yourself? Well, let me take this opportunity to explain myself. Did you know that an average of 1 of every 5 adults in the US live with some form of a mental illness (nimh.nih.gov)? 10% of the entire population of the world suffers from mental illness (worldbank.org). And, for this population of people holidays are the absolute worst time of the year.
People who suffer from mental illness tend to withdraw socially and isolate themselves more during the holidays, they may fall into deep bouts of depression, attempt to self-medicate themselves in an effort to deal with stress, and sometimes, if the pressure becomes too much, they physically lash out at others or they might attempt suicide. Why am I telling you all of this? Because we all know someone who suffers from and/or copes with mental health issues. And while we are placing all of this effort on what we do not have, let’s take a moment to be grateful for what we do have - people in our lives that we love and care deeply about.
I’m asking everyone reading this to take a moment out of their busy day to do one thankless thing for another person every day for the next thirty-one days. It takes thirty-one days to make or break a habit – so let’s make it a habit to be kind to one another. I’m not asking for much – it can be something as simple as a smile at another person or giving them a hot beverage. Let’s acknowledge others’ presence, donate clothing items that you no longer to use to those in need, provide a hot meal to a hungry person, or maybe rent a motel room for a family in need for just one night.
It doesn’t take much to change the course of a person’s life. In fact, that one kind gesture just might save another person’s life. Will you be the change that you would like to see in others? How you will positively impact another person’s life starting today?
All the best,
Carrie
