The Importance of Mental Health in the New Year

Finally 2020 is over! It’s been a totality of the craziest and weirdest year everyone has experienced. We’ve seen many ups and downs, like people losing their loved ones, losing their jobs, and not being able to see their friends or family. Many things in life have happened that we never expected to last year. Everything was so abrupt that even when we wanted to console someone or when we needed help we couldn’t because of the pandemic and social distancing. These factors, along with many others, have impacted many people’s mental health.

According to a Survey by WHO (World Health Organization) conducted from June to August 2020, there are, “Over 60% reported disruptions to mental health services for vulnerable people, including children and adolescents (72%), older adults (70%), and women requiring antenatal or postnatal services (61%).”As we know the COVID situation is going on, we also need to follow all COVID rules and regulations to keep ourselves safe. But that doesn’t mean we will forget how important our mental health is. We have to understand that being a healthy person means that you’re not only physically fit, but you’re mentally fit too.

Every year we make a “New Year’s Resolution” and try our best to stick with it. So, why don’t we just add one more resolution to our list: “I will focus on my mental health”.

I know it’s not easy to cope with events that might’ve happened in your life recently, coming just like a wind, leaving you with no sign of hope and only seeing darkness.

But what you need to understand is that life goes on. You need to pull yourself together. Although it would be hard at first but you need to believe in yourself and to move forward is the best decision one can make. Everyone is different. Everyone has different personalities and different ways of handling a situation. This can be applied in the same way to people being in quarantine, for some it was the best time in their life, and for others it was worse.

According to an article citing Forbes: The study, conducted by Virginia-based research consultancy, Greater Divide, surveyed 1,000 American adults and found that those who scored higher on the measure of extraversion were less likely to be experiencing mental health issues due to stay-at-home or quarantine measures. Some experts contribute the surprising results to extroversion being associated with more positive emotions, optimism, and resiliency, while introversion has been linked to more nervousness and fear. The uncertainty of this pandemic may be more difficult for introverts. Many things have grown complicated because of COVID: relationships, academics, and happiness. This has led to many people around the world having feelings of sadness. Many things also went online: elementary or middle school, college, dating, and even festivals. Students were anxious about their academics. The question “What’s going to happen next?” was always running in their mind. Though it was difficult to understand what the academic year would be like online, many students are continuing to do school online and now they are more aware of how to go through online school. COVID has also forced people to be far away from their families for educational or job purposes, leaving them alone and unable to find ways to go back home. These people were often sad and scared because they didn’t have anyone to tell them about how they felt. People were scared, depressed, frustrated, hopeless, mentally devastated, and some of them are still going through the same scenario now. But I believe you can get through this.

All I want to say to everyone, not only those who have faced a mental health issues but to everyone, give a more attention to your mental health. Try doing things you wanted to do but couldn't, make an appointment with a therapist and it’s okay to acknowledge that you need one. If you have messed up with someone or something, try to fix it, and don't forget that you are human too. Go and “Zoom” your family or friends, by that I mean video call them. Go and meet new people virtually or get that book you always wanted to read, and relax in your world. Do what you feel like to do but remember to take precautions as well. Ultimately, do what makes you feel good, happy, fantastic and confident.

Because our mental health does matter.