As per WHO (World Health Organization), 1 out of every 4 people you meet suffers from some or other kind of mental illness. Increasing suicidal rates need immediate attention.

Mental health the most ignored aspect of our lives includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It all starts at a very tender age, in school, in college, and in our society, right in front of our eyes. Children are the future and if we want to prepare them to deal with the future we need preventive measures in place right from the early stages of their life. 

If we are able to internalise mental health as a subject of study in schools and colleges, things will start to change. We need more sensitisation towards colour shaming, body shaming, bullying, labelling, and name-calling. It all starts in school, kids don't even know how it affects others.

Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Making mental health a priority in life is a vital need. Our mental health highly affects how we think, function, perform feel, and act. It impacts our academic performance, productivity, cognitive ability, and even relationships.

We need to sensitise our society that not feeling ok is also normal. Feeling depressed, having OCD disorder, living with bipolar, schizophrenia, and anxiety is as valid as having diabetes, thyroid, asthma, cancer, and tuberculosis and needs attention.

For all the physical illnesses we go through, we seek immediate medication without any fear, but when it comes to mental health, there comes a question of shame, labelling, and judgment, because mental illness is still tied up with taboo and a lot of stereotypical beliefs.

This mindset needs a change. The more we talk about it the more we normalise it. I have seen people going into darkness, and they lose their inner spark forever just because people lack empathy and understanding of the importance of mental illness.

Stress, anxiety, and depression can hit anybody at any point in time, sometimes a person might have a solid reason and sometimes there could be absolutely no reason but we only need to create awareness and sensitization so that we can have more good and active listeners and fewer criticizers, more empaths fewer judgment mongers, more sensitive people creating safe space for people who suffer in silence.

Mental illness is like some invisible wound that can't be seen, which has no face but it is for real, it kills an individual from the inside, and with timely intervention, we can wear off a tragedy. 

Just a small petition to make mental health a norm and a priority in everybody's life for a better quality of life. Even if a small portion of it or a chapter shedding light n the importance of mental health can be included in every school, irrespective of the board, state, or country, It will start to make a lot of difference in the long run.

Gratitude,

Priyanka Joshi

Founder - Sanity Daily