By Joe Brock
Let’s be honest, at this point I can pretty much speak for all of us when I say I AM TIRED. Tired of all the media fear mongering, tired of all the rising and dropping numbers on a daily basis, tired of all the uncertainty and anxiety coupled in with all this madness. Pure tired.
We are going on almost five months of this “new” reality we live in, COVID-19, the first pandemic in 100 years and it just had to happen now. You know we were a few months away from watching Lebron James with his 4th NBA title and I for one was really looking forward to that! THANKS COVID, you dick.
But I digress, I’m not here today to poke fun or make jokes, it’s too easy anyways, the whole world is basically a joke right now. No no, I am here today for some good old fashioned encouragement and guidance because deep down I know that’s what we all really need right now. Making light of this situation just isn’t cutting it anymore because people are really starting to suffer and not just from the virus, from something even worse. A pandemic that we had on our hands long before COVID ever showed, or didn’t show, its ugly face. Mental Health.
That’s right, the biggest issue in our society today, aside from crippling racism, but that’s for another time. Mental Health is on the front burner right now because this pandemic is affecting folks in ways I don’t ever want to see people be affected by anything. The suicide rate in this country has skyrocketed since they began to shut down the economy and scare everyone into becoming prisoners in their own homes. Jobs have been lost, companies that were once staples in our society have been closed, forever. People are starting to take notice of all that is going on right now and quite frankly I’ll admit it’s all a little scary and I can understand why some people are losing their marbles, for lack of a better term.
We have to address this, and we have to address it now before it is actually too late to do anything or help anyone, if left untreated mental illness is without a doubt the number one killer of humans. It is also the most undiagnosed disease in the history of disease, which is the greatest challenge and problem in all of this. We have people snapping on a daily basis and doing horrific things to themselves and others and simply because no one has ever sat them down and had a conversation with them about their mental health and what some steps may be to take the pressure off their fragile minds. No one has ever encouraged them to try meditation, smoke some weed, take a walk in nature, etc.. No one has ever really tackled this issue on a broad spectrum and thus here we are, living in a society crippled by mental illness, succumbing to mass shootings, racism, narcissism, sociopaths…oh yes all of these stem from mental health issues in case you didn’t know.
It seems almost sad that we continue to wake up everyday in a world full of hurting people, even more so now with this virus running rampant, and to see the way the world just takes a toll on the human mind is disheartening. We were meant to live on this earth in peace and quiet, together with each other living off the land and enjoying the human experience. Instead we struggle, battle and fight everyday just to maintain sanity because we live in a world literally designed to drive people mad. We don’t stand a chance from day one, mental illness starts to become an issue way before any of us become adults, and if left untreated and unresolved, continues to tear us apart from the inside out until we have that dreaded mental breakdown and possibly do something we can’t take back that affects ourselves and many others. This is no way to live life, it never has been and it never will be, and if we ever want to see the change we need to see, each one of us is going to have to help someone else out. None of us can do this on our own, we weren’t designed to and we simply don’t have to, that is why we are all here together.
So after reading this today what i’m asking you to do is one of two things, depending on which one best applies to you. Either reach out for help if you yourself are struggling mentally at this very moment, or if you think you are fine then reach out to someone else who you think may be struggling and offer them just an ear to listen and genuine words of hope and encouragement. We have to be the ones to make the changes that will ultimately affect our future and survival as a species, it was always going to have to start with us, and if not it will all be ended for us. I for one prefer the outcome where we all save ourselves, together.
You are so right. Mental health is so important. We need to keep ourselves physically in shape, but also mentally.
We do need to revamp the mental health system in order to help address this situation. In my next article I will go over some of the ways we can benefit mental health IF they are bent on defunding police in some areas, it has got to go into funding mental health. Police spend lots of time in hospital ER;s just dealing with mentally unstable patients that need counselling and help not a firm hand. When someone is temporarily detained for 72 hours usually, the police have to be called to take them away in handcuffs. These people are not criminals. This is a ludicrous practice that needs to be reformed. Even if police defunding is not happening, I still believe that refunding mental health areas needs to be taken very seriously.