What is the mental health equivalent of stubbing your toe?
What is the mental health equivalent of catching a cold?
What’s the mental health equivalent of packing a healthy lunch?
What’s the mental health equivalent of wearing a seatbelt or driving (approximately) the speed limit?
What’s the mental health equivalent of not drinking and driving or operating machinery?
What’s the mental health equivalent of wearing a helmet when skateboarding or skiing? Or a life jacket when on a boat?
What’s the mental health equivalent of wearing reflective gear as a traffic cop?
What’s the mental health equivalent of going vegan?
What’s the mental health equivalent of posting the calories on a fast food menu?
What’s the mental health equivalent of a public smoking cessation campaign?
What’s the mental health equivalent of shutting down an avenue once a month on a Sunday so people can ride bikes?
What is the mental health equivalent of wearing high top hiking shoes to protect your ankles when hiking?
What is the mental health equivalent of wearing a sweater in the cold?
What is the mental health equivalent of taking vitamins?
Of eating your veggies?
Of hydrating?
Of counting your daily steps?
WITMHEO (what is the mental health equivalent of) brushing your teeth? And flossing?
WITMHEO wearing comfortable shoes? Or supportive shoes?
WITMHEO sitting with good posture at your desk at work?
WITMHEO buying soap with few chemicals?
WITMHEO clipping your nails?
WITMHEO micronutrients, macronutrients, fiber, a healthy weight, strength, flexibility, endurance, daily and weekly physical health habits?
(One thing is clear, sleep doesn’t overlap it directly converts. Meaning, the Venn diagram for sleep and mental healthy and physical health is a circle.)
Here’s a shot at the mental health equivalent of stubbing your toe:
Perhaps someone says something that sound a little “off,” and you feel a twinge of some negative feeling for about a minute and a half and it goes away.
Here’s a try at the mental health equivalent of catching a cold:
Maybe you feel a little underlying funkiness emotionally for two or three days. You still go to work and most of your colleagues don’t even know, though a couple might notice. After a few days it’s gone.
Physical health is so commonplace we’re barely aware of how many ways we intentionally interact with it every day. The world has so much to offer us for our physical health.
Not so much for our mental health.
Time’s are changing. Mental health is a growing part of our lives, but it’s still just a drop in the bucket.
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