“Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, YOU ARE NOT THE RAIN.”
Matt Haig
Let me take another break from the technicalities of being an #InHouseIntegrator to discuss an important topic: mental health. One outcome from the COVID-19 pandemic has been a significant increase in mental health issues all over the world. It became a second health emergency all of its own. As we work our way out of the pandemic in fits and starts, it is important for everyone to take stock of our own mental health and of those around us, especially anyone who may report to us.
First, enough with the stigma around mental health. Fortunately, this has gotten better over time, but there is still work to be done to allow for open and frank discussions around mental health. We need to create environments where we can discuss our mental challenges and shortcomings as effortlessly as we do with our physical challenges. If an installer or technician were to come into your office on a Monday morning with a cast on their leg and using crutches, how would your management react? Would they require them to continue to climb ladders and help carry that 85” flat panel up three flights of stairs? Of course not, there would be temporary accommodations made to provide them activities that are reasonable for their current physical health condition. Now, what if an employee comes into your office on Monday and tells management that they are struggling with focus because of depression or anxiety. Would that be managed in the same way as a physical challenge might? The odds are not great, first, because of the stigma, the employee almost certainly wouldn’t say anything in the first place, and second, because many managers are simply not equipped with the right mental health tools and training. We all need to play a part in creating a workplace culture that recognizes that many people have chronic mental health challenges and everyone faces an acute mental health crisis from time to time. Recognition is the first step – we need to talk about it and normalize it.
I have been so impressed with Jenn Steinhardt’s (@NerdyGirlAV) example in the Pro AV community lately. She has bravely discussed her own mental health challenges and neurodiversity. Let me take an opportunity to follow her example and continue to normalize the discussion. I have personally been diagnosed with both generalized anxiety disorder as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. That likely comes as a surprise to many of you; my cases are mild which means I am rarely debilitated by my anxiety and OCD, and they have not prevented me from being very successful in both my career and personal life. Yet, as the meme goes, “the struggle is real.” It can definitely take a lot of joy out of aspects of my life, and has led to ongoing issues in the relationships closest to me. You can count me into the mental health challenged camp.
Which leads me to a key point, seek out a counselor. I don’t care if you have zero diagnoses, we all face challenging times in our lives. When you find yourself in one of those times, there is no reason to suffer silently in yourself. Find someone you can talk to about your inner thoughts; certainly, the best choice is a licensed mental health professional, but if that is simply not an option for you, it can be a member of clergy, your physician, or a friend. In my personal experience it may take a few tries to find the right fit. I am excited about my current counselor as she identified the mild OCD, and we are really starting to work through that. I had gone to others in the past, and only found the experience moderately helpful. The lesson is to keep trying until you find someone that works for you. And again, you may not have any chronic challenges but simply find yourself in a unique time of stress, change, or grief; go get help, and encourage those around you to seek help when you see them struggling.
“The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is, you don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it, because it’s really important you share your experience with people so that you can get the help that you need.”
Demi Lovato
One small thing I have been trying to do more for my mental health is work on mindfulness. I won’t mislead you – I am just getting started and have so far to go, but let me share one practice I try to do now. When I walk across campus I try to think:
- “What do I see?” People? Leaves? Animals? Architecture? Blue Sky? Snow? Reflections of sunlight? Shadows?
- “What do I hear?” Birds? Train? Laughter? Music? Wind blowing?
- “What do feel?” Warm sun? Wind? Concrete under my feet? The bag on my back?
- “What do I smell?” Trees? Flowers? Chemistry experiments gone horribly wrong?
It really does help to center me into the now. I know there is so, so, so much more to mindfulness than this one little exercise. My challenge is that I need to extend my mindfulness into more hours of my day; I look forward to discussing that further with my counselor.
Let me close by reminding you of a recent change in the intervention for the most urgent mental health crisis: suicide. The national suicide prevention hotline is now the “Suicide and Crisis Lifeline,” and it can be reached nationwide with a simple 3-digit number: 988. This easy-to-remember number will make it much easier for those in need, or those helping someone in need, to reach a professional who can assist in a mental health crisis. While our hope is nobody in our orbits ever needs that line, it is important for us all to know it just in case.
