Pause for a rant.

I just read an article citing that 25% of Canadians feel their mental health is suffering more now than at the beginning of this pandemic. I get it. Winter is coming. Infections are up. We are scared. This is not surprising. I am scared too. But what I am afraid of is not of being cooped up inside or getting sick. I am afraid because you are afraid. Mental Health is so overlooked. We seem to be mostly focused (and all good!) on wearing masks, social distancing and sanitizing. I am not going to say ‘washing our hands’ because if you weren’t doing that before… well… I have no words. Go buy some toilet paper!

I digress.

We can do all the zoom calls and virtual parties that we want but it just doesn’t measure up to real human interaction. There is no way around it. We. Need. People. We need connection. We need touch. We need to look each other in the eyes and see a smile. Feel a smile. Laugh. Roll on the floor and laugh. Have you ever tried to roll on the floor laughing while holding your smart phone cause you are Face-timing? Not the same thing. And awkward. So awkward.

So yes, I am afraid too. Studies have shown that loneliness is a contributing factor to poor health. It can even slow down recovery times. It is a thing. A real thing. So don’t discount how you are feeling. Don’t pretend that you are not in that 25% of Canadians if you are. Because if you are, it is okay. It sucks but it is okay.

“All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul and they will never notice how broken you really are.”

Robin Williams

So here is my rant. While the government is handing out all the financial aid, where is our mental health assistance? The financial aid is great and necessary for many people. But where is our health care coverage for mental illness? Why isn’t mental therapy covered by our health care system? We are covered for basic physical ailments. Why does it stop there? We can go for regular check ups to ensure our physical health is where it should be. What about our regular check ups for our mental health? And if it does exist please let me know so I can share it. I would love to be proved wrong here.

And on that note, here is another point I would like everyone to consider. Mental Health is not something that you can go to a doctor for and be cured with a prescription. It is ongoing. A life’s worth of work. And we can all benefit from it because we all have our ‘shit’. All of us! And regular check ups are necessary. Reminders to stay on our path are necessary.

Think about it this way. If you are recovering from a heart attack, you don’t go home and settle back in to the old lifestyle that lead you to the heart attack to begin with. You make changes. And you go back to your doctor for regular check ups to make sure you are on the right path. Now how about your mental health? As I mentioned, we all have our ‘shit’. And getting help to work through it is important. Go see a professional. Get help. Make the changes. And go back for regular check ups to make sure you are on the right path. Just like recovering from the heart attack.

Just saying. Something to think about.

Rant over. Thanks for listening 🙂