May 3-9, 2021 is Mental Health Week!
This Mental Health Week, we focus on how naming, expressing, and dealing with our emotions — the ones we like and the ones we don’t — is important for our mental health.
Good mental health isn’t about being happy all the time. In fact, a mentally healthy life includes the full range of human emotions—even the uncomfortable ones like sadness, fear, and anger.
- Feeling sad, angry, and anxious at times is part of being human.
- Even if we try to push our difficult feelings down, they don’t go away.
- Bottling up our emotions can make them grow or come out in other ways—not reacting to something negative that happens at school could end up making you more likely to yell at someone later.
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Week is understanding our emotions. Recognizing, labeling, and accepting our feelings are all part of protecting and promoting good mental health for everyone. Heavy feelings lighten when you put them into words. When we voice our emotions, the pain gives way. So, let’s understand and name how we feel. Angry? Glad? Frustrated? Sad? It’s all good.
This Mental Health Week, don’t be uncomfortably numb. #GetReal about how you feel. And name it, don’t numb it.
Relying on others and sharing our very normal feelings of sadness, fear, and worry is hugely important during this unusual time of stress, uncertainty, and loss. Talk to a trusted person about the things going on in your life. Share your feelings, the good and the bad.
If you aren’t sure who to talk to or think you need a little extra support reach out to a phone line like the Kids Help Phone. They are open 24/7 and offer phone calls, online chat, and text support. You can also get free in-person support from places like Klinic, your local nursing station, your school counselor, or a Teen Clinic.
