Do You Know How Mentally Healthy You Are?
Mental health is something we all depend on in order to function and make decisions and go about our days. Yet the average person can hardly describe their own mental health profile in anywhere near as much detail as their physical health profile. This is an odd phenomenon in our culture that we do not treat mental health like something that actually exists. The average person thinks they are mentally healthy, or if they are not, it is likely that they are undiagnosed in their mental unhealthiness. Do you know how mentally healthy you are, personally?
The first step in taking charge of your own mental health is by becoming aware of it. Examine your own thought and behavioral patterns. What do you see? Do you engage in positive self talk? Are you honest? Do you have healthy, fulfilling relationships with other people? Are you a functional adult? These among an array of other personal questions will start to get you in touch with how you think. Evaluating how you think cannot be underestimated in importance. No two people think exactly alike, but people’s brains work in similar ways, and there are certainly ways of telling which thought processes are healthy and which are not.
The second step in taking charge of your own mental health is by assessing what it needs in order to improve. This is not a guessing game. This is a psychological examination of the health of your personal thoughts and behaviors. Are there areas that need improvement? Are there areas in your life that are given to negative thoughts, anger, resentment, frustration, disappointment and sadness? Do you feel out of control of certain areas of your life? Have you always had a suspicion that you do not have some of the basic coping mechanisms and healthy patterns that seem to come naturally to others?