UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH DAY

We all find big decisions concerning (they wouldn’t be big decisions if they weren’t) and gearing up as a young adult to get the best possible start to the rest of our lives sounds a pretty responsible thing to do.  However, when the pressure we, and others, put on ourselves to ‘get it right first time’ is so enormous it just seems a little self-defeating to me.  We should feel motivated and empowered to achieve what we want to but when we make it into a crusade the pressure of that can destroy all the other things like confidence, self-esteem etc that we will need to carry forward all those dreams and aspirations for the future.  The pressure can be so intense that we can turn to coping methods such as binge drinking, drugs, eating disorders etc. etc. that even if we do make it through the gruelling self-punishing years of trying to be better than our best, we may have broken ourselves into having a life mantra that we are “never good enough”.

As a society we appear to be moving on with understanding stress, anxiety and depression but are we really when it comes to the pressures we seem, as a society, to put on our impressionable young adults to achieve?   The irony is also that even if we do perform like we are advised to do with the view that life will then be easy, it often isn’t.  Jobs that don’t materialise, dreams are lost, and spirits broken.

My wish on University Mental Health Day is that those there do the best they can (for themselves).  That they enjoy their journey in a real way and take advantage of all the opportunities /healthy choices that are open to them so that when they venture out into the bright light of the working World they do so with autonomy and confidence.  Leave stress at the door and if you need to offload some, talk to someone.  Be the best you can and that is good enough.