May is mental health awareness month. Given the turbulent times we occupy, anxiety is an appropriate response. We have reason to sing the Blues, for these are the days of fear and loathing. We must guard against allowing anxiety to spill into aimless rage, crippling stress, and despair.
Mental health awareness has arguably grown since the mind-altering pandemic years. Nonetheless, mental illness still carries with it a stigma that often discourages treatment. Too often, the go-to remedy is pharmaceutical. While effective in many cases, mild to moderate anxiety and depression can be alleviated through contact with nature. Combined with counseling through talk and cognitive behavioral therapy, we can heal and maintain balance in the storm of human affairs. I can only speak from experience.
In this podcast episode, I explore ways we might find moments of tranquillity in a maddening world.
Peace of Mind in the Days of Fear and Loathing
We live in a scary, at times utterly unkind world. One that appears increasingly untethered to a sense of rational thought, a connection to the rest of the planet, and to each other.
In a world gone mad, mental health suffers. People cower under the weight of despair, rage, or fear, or loneliness, or isolation. Conversely, awareness increases. The idea that seeking counsel is a source of strength, not a sign of weakness.
Resisting and countering all those forces I alluded to at the outset will naturally inspire fear, anger, rage, and even despair. Our job as conscious, caring citizens and human beings is to seek a healthy mental state in order to meet the challenge.
Human, heal thyself. Be thus in the world and see what happens next.
Be well, be brave, and be kind.
“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”
- T.S. Elliott
