Mental health is something we need to talk about more than we do.
Thankfully, things are changing and we are seeing a society-wide shift in how mental health and mental health issues are discussed and dealt with.
But there is still room for more progress.
Something we all need to talk about more than we do is the issue of mental health and motherhood.
When we are young ourselves, we don’t think about how our moms feel when they are raising us, we just don’t have the capacity yet. Mothers have a tendency to cover things up for everyone else’s sake too, hiding their problems and pain. As a result, we don’t know about things going on until years later.
But is this the right thing?
Absolutely not.
Even though moms are there to care for and support their children, it’s important that they also receive care and support from themselves.
If we are moms ourselves, we need to be able to speak out about what we are experiencing and ask for help. When we do this, we quickly see that many many other moms out there are feeling the same.
Just some of the mental health issues moms specifically experience can be:
- Stress and overwhelm with responsibilities and everyday tasks
- Post-natal depression
- Post-natal psychosis
- Anxiety about finances
- Body issues post-birth
- Bonding issues
- Relationship issues with partner
- Loss of identity
And so on.
Being a mother is pretty tough work and there are a lot of factors that contribute to moms having, at times, poor mental health.
The more that we see this as a natural and normal response to a new and stressful environment, the better.
A lot of moms feel guilty about talking about their mental health struggles because they worry that people will mistakingly think that they don’t love their children or that they aren’t happy with their lives and how they have turned out. But this is of course not the case.
We can’t feel shame for our mental health issues, because they are normal and happen to millions of moms worldwide.
The more we talk about it, the more we can build communities and networks of women helping and supporting each other.
Most of us use social media platforms to post and discuss lots of things, but how many of us use it to be vulnerable and talk about how mental health issues and motherhood?
Imagine if we did, and a new young mother who was struggling with her mental health saw the posts we made?
How would she feel?
She would feel understood, listened to, and seen.
When people feel this way, it is much much easier for them to deal with the problems they are having and reach out for support.
We as mothers have a duty to other mothers, and we can perform this duty by speaking out and being honest. When we do this, we open the dialogue for women all around the world.
Only then can we start to make real and positive progress as a society and a world.
We have collective suffering and so we should have collective support.
What do you think?
