The pandemic sparked off dialogues globally on the criticality of good mental health in helping us deal with the many different crises that the unprecedented times brought with it- loss of jobs, financial insecurity, health concerns, fear of the future, grief and other issues. The Tokyo Olympics also brought to fore the need to start tackling stigmas around it.

And now when the world is preparing to go back to ‘normalcy’ we need to pay an even sharper attention to it. Be it in the form of full-time return to work /  education, or a hybrid model, both will require navigating through a new way of doing things and being. Just as we had to adapt ourselves during the lockdown, we will have to adapt ourselves now as well: Re-orienting to having an out-of-the house routine, battling with traffic, re-learning social interactions out of a two dimension set up, fear of health and safety, exposure….this list is long.

All these changes will require different coping mechanisms and will start to present mental health issues of a different nature. It is therefore critical that the dialogue on mental health is sustained to make ourselves and our future generations resilient.

Enter: Inner Life

Mental health is often considered to be about mental illness or extreme anxieties and stressors created by obstacles / problems. But a closer look will reveal that it is the inability to cope with everyday issues that depletes one’s energy and sense of fulfilment. Sound mental health requires that we pay attention to the way we live our daily life.

A consistent narrative that we hear during workshops and otherwise is that of dissonance stemming from remorse from choices made in the past, the need for external validation, outer success, the desire to look and be perfect, body and self-image issues to name just a few. These issues are like a dull pain that is not overwhelming yet, but is still creating discomfort.

While this does not impact a person’s ability to be a functioning individual, the daily nag leaves the individual feeling perennially dissatisfied. Happiness seems to be an elusive ‘something’ of the future and the search for it a never-ending pursuit.

There is a misguided idea that the root of happiness lies in living a problem free life. The endeavor then becomes to avoid situations that carry within it a possible problem in the future. And when stress hits hard, there is a tendency to sidestep it by going on holidays or filling life with so many activities that there is no time to think at all, hoping that there will be a natural resolution to it. On the other extreme to this are procrastination, staying in the comfort zone and the many manifestations of fear.

However, the strain continues to show up, irrespective of the denial mechanism one may adopt: Poor exercising and eating habits, sleep issues, emotional outbursts, loss of interest in hobbies, addictions, including that of social media, over indulgence of online entertainment platforms are some such signs.

In reality, it is not the problem itself but the inability to overcome it, even if just temporarily, that causes the stress. If denied for too long, it will finally reach a point of breakdown, when we finally seek mental health support.

But this should not be the case. Consistently working towards strengthening one’s inner life through everyday habits, thoughts and actions is what is needed. Just as we focus on physical fitness on a regular basis, mental fitness has to be part of one’s routine life too. Self-awareness of trigger points, meditative practices, learning new skills, becoming sensitive to one’s self-talk are some activities that can be considered as a start point.

We will be sharing some specific tips on this soon, but in case you have any activities that have worked for you, do share in comments.