Three Ways Mental Health Resembles Physical Health
Number two: consistency, consistency, consistency.
With the rise of mental health as both a topical area of culture, interest, growth, and crucial tool for personal and emotional development, natural comparisons are being drawn between the state of our minds and the states of our bodies — the mental and the physical. They say “healthy body, healthy mind” for a reason.
There are countless ways that mental health is both similar and dissimilar to physical health. From my experience, here are the ways that mental health resembles physical health most closely.
- It matters. A lot.
The importance of physical health does not need a diatribe. Failing to take care of your body will literally kill you, make you sick, and destroy your quality of life.
So too with mental health.
The ability to understand, regulate, process, and manage one’s emotional state is a prerequisite to a truly fulfilling life. Of course, mental health issues run right in the face of this awareness and flexibility, as issues like anxiety or depression can sap the life out of us or refocus our energies in distorted ways. The world is suffering from a pandemic of mental health issues at a historic rate, and such issues do not go without consequences on our bodies, minds, and spirits. Burnout is high. Substance abuse is up. And naturally, fulfillment is down.
We care about our bodies by exercising them. We promote healthy eating habits and have created industries around helping our bodies relax and unload. We are open, creative, and positive about the energy we invest in our physical health.
We should challenge ourselves to look at mental health through the same lens.
Are we exercising our mind (being creative, challenging ourselves to think and feel), feeding it healthy content (cutting out social media once it becomes destructive), and resting it (practicing mindfulness, letting our minds wander, meditation)? Are we caring for our mental state in a proactive fashion rather than being reactive? Do we talk about our strategies for mental health management with friends over coffee casually?
Globally the answer to these questions is likely no, but it will change over time as we learn to adapt. The more we can examine our mental state with the same holistic approach that we apply to our physical health, the sooner we can unravel, understand, and better manage it.
2. Consistency, consistency, consistency.
Ask any serious bodybuilder the secret to their success and you will hear the same thing time and time again: consistency. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, remaining dedicated and putting in consistent work is the key ingredient in sculpting, improving, and achieving lasting results.
So too with mental health.
Every neural pathway in our brain is a muscle, and just like muscles, consistent training is required to keep the pathways sharp, active, and growing. Mental health is not a matter of taking a pill and watching your world suddenly change for the better. Just like building a physique of which you are proud, achieving results in mental health requires consistent practice and dedication to manage your thoughts, feelings, and emotions for a very long time (sometimes, up to years). You don’t expect to lose 5 pounds after a single run, so why do you think your anxiety to be cured after meditating for twenty minutes?
To some extent the work here never truly stops as life continues to change and new stressors are mixed in. The thing to remember is that each time we exercise these neural pathways they are becoming stronger, faster, and more flexible, and with enough time the energy needed to leverage these thought patterns will approach a minimal level.
It’s always hard at first, but like everything else in life it will become easier over time.
3. Find what works for YOU.
In the world of physical exercise there is no “one size fits all” approach (“you should run, period.” “you should lift weights, period.”). Most of the time, we have to take time and explore different forms of exercising — cardio, weight lifting, classes, yoga, etc. — to discover what we enjoy most and gives us the biggest bang for our buck. Then we have to work at it and explore the various subsets in the chosen form of the exercise to find our niche (e.g. we’ve chosen running but do we run on a treadmill? Track? Outside? Etc.). Then we iterate on the equipment to support us in this endeavor and build out a schedule to practice regularly (buy good running shoes, decide on three times/week, etc.). All said, this process for discovering one’s chosen form of exercise can take years and it may well change over time.
So too, with mental health.
Perhaps the aspect of mental health that is being most under-discussed today is the fact that mental health is incredibly complex and takes a lot of practice, experimentation, creativity, and time to manage appropriately. There is no one size fits all solution to mental health problems and illnesses. For some people medication is helpful and constructive in the process. For others it’s talk therapy. There’s cognitive behavioral therapy. Mindfulness techniques and meditation. Journaling. Deep breathing. Connecting with one’s support network. Self-talk. Walks outside. Silent retreats. Coaching. A mix of two, three, or four of the above.
There is no silver bullet to this process, but the important thing to keep in mind is that just like with physical exercise, we have to build out and understand all of the tools at our disposal before we decide on what works best for us.
I’ve watched as my tools to manage anxiety have evolved over time. First it was journaling, often. Then it became meditating each day. Then it was deep breathing and journaling. Then medications entered the picture. Then deep breathing again. Then journaling. Then self-talk. Therapy came, went, and came again.
Today I can feel out on a day-to-day basis what tool is most efficient for me (and most of the time, I can do a lot of the work in my head in seconds as I’ve practiced it enough). But it took me months of consistent work, practice, and exploration to develop these tools before I understood and felt the impact that they had. Countless sessions of meditating only to feel just as anxious afterward. Or journaling and still feeling overwhelmed. Or deep breathing and not yet feeling relaxed. But eventually the meditating calmed me down. Eventually the journaling got me in touch with my feelings. And eventually, the deep breathing calmed my nerves. Now, I can lean on any mix and match of these tools when I feel I need them, and my anxiety is on its knees on a regular basis.
Every mind is different but that is no reason to despair. To effectively manage mental health one must explore and find what works for them. Perseverance and a creative approach are both key to this.
In the end, we as humanity will learn how to manage mental health eventually. The only question is how quickly and efficiently we will do so. By viewing our mental health in a similar vein as physical health, we can better contextualize the many layers, challenges, and complexities that exist in our minds, and more efficiently tackle the battle to manage them.
