“Though my soul may set in darkness,

It will rise in perfect light;

I have loved the stars too fondly,

To be fearful of the night”

                                                     – Sarah Williams.

The darkness that we often experience, paralyses us making us feel handicapped. There’s nothing but void all around. Our inner demons keep haunting us day and night. And the cry for help gets louder, with every passing day. Consumed in utter despair all we seek is peace, inner peace. 

It is no surprise that a majority of us have felt this way, most of us feel this way every single day and unfortunately, the numbers are increasing day by day.  Sadly, we are living in an emotional dark age and humanity is smoothly heading towards a major crisis in mental health. 

We often feel,

 As if we can never get out of it. 

 As if life’s pointless.

 And we are doomed to stay in this misery forever. 

Is it bad karma? 

Or is it something related to the family lineage? 

And the worst of all, I am the problem; the insane one. 

 Thoughts alike keep jogging through our heads especially when we are in the darkness. 

But why do we feel like this?

There are plenty of many reasons for it. 

Humans are a herd species. We are social creatures. We are meant to stay together with other humans. But today’s motto is independence, correction “Hyper-Independence”. And that makes us feel alone. 

 Loneliness is one of the biggest reasons for us to feel as if we are destined to stay that way. Nearly 8 billion of us yet we feel as if we have no one to talk to or share our true feelings with. 

Isn’t it heartbreaking? 

The root cause of many mental health issues is loneliness. The feeling that no one understands us. Is what keeps us trapped in our suffering. Not to forget the huge taboo that such topics bring along which makes it even more difficult to have a healthy discussion. Mental health issues are still treated like a forbidden sin among many. The cruelty that such stigmas carry is what results in further isolation and in extreme cases, suicide. 

As human beings, we are not meant to be alone. We cannot thrive by being all by ourselves. We cannot live like an island. Had that been the case, we would not require anyone. When we were babies or adults and each one of us would live separately on separate planets and different galaxies! The universe is literally massive. There’s ample space as there’s no beginning or end! 

We seriously need to reconsider our stance on independence. Because we live in an interdependent world. No matter how “independent” you think you are but think again. From the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed, the activities or chores that you’ve done even by yourself, did you really do it all by yourself?

For example, let’s talk about breakfast. The food on your plate; did you grow it in your garden or field? The air, water; did you produce it? And things alike! We need people in our lives for tiniest of the tiny things, things we don’t even remember about. Not just for getting things done but also for emotional and spiritual matters. 

An organism cannot prosper in distress. The same is true with us humans. No matter how strong or resilient one may appear to be, one will slowly yet steadily fall apart, especially with the way we as a species are functioning right now.

Today’s fast-paced hustle culture is not conducive to human health. 

Everything is moving so fast that we have no time to slow down.

 To smell the roses, to dance in the rain, to laugh our hearts out, to pause and look at the moving clouds, to hear the birds singing and enjoy the little pleasures of life. 

We live in a fake world, eat poisoned food, are exposed to continuous EMF radiations, the air is polluted, waterbodies are heavily intoxicated, have meaningless conversations, and work at jobs that suck the life out of us. It is quite obvious to us to feel mentally challenged given the state of world we live in today. And to add the cherry on top of the cake we are supposed to just to keep going that way because No Pain, No Gain.

I am literally fatigued just writing about all this. 

The soundness of your mental health is directly related to the wellness of your emotional health. This means if you are not emotionally healthy you are bound to experience a decline in your mental health as well. 

Think of a cup. When you fill in the cup, only then can you drink what’s in there. But what happens if you don’t refill it? Even little by little. Then the cup becomes empty! 

This is what actually happens to many on an emotional level as well. 

The void that we often talk about is the result of the emptiness which we experience. Panic attacks, high-functioning anxiety, paranoia, and debilitating sadness are all manifestations of that very emptiness. They are cries for help from our soul to caretake our emotional well-being. 

Childhood Trauma plays an active role in understanding the state of one’s mental health. The extent to which a particular situation, circumstance, person (or many) affected you and the way you coped at that very time would prove very beneficial in gaining insights into your given issue. 

Curiosity for those very things such as, At the age of 6 this very thing happened to me and that is how I coped which is why I feel like this, is a great start for developing self-awareness. What this does is gives you a brief context for the reason of your suffering. 

How do we Heal?

Acceptance is the keyword when it comes to healing. 

Acceptance of what is rather than assuming how it should be or what shouldn’t be is what would facilitate your healing journey. 

To heal any kind of mental health issue you need to address your emotions. And for that, you need to accept it. You need not like it but what you need to do is look at the reality of it. 

Let’s say someone broke his legs in an accident. And he keeps affirming that everything is fine but what he keeps wondering is, “Why the hell am I not able to walk”. What would you think? 

This is exactly what we expect of ourselves and others. Our emotional bodies are no different so is our nervous system. 

Healing will only take place once we stop convincing ourselves that everything is okay. You need to accept the fact that you are in pain. We are constantly fighting our inner demons; either running away from them, suppressing them or are in complete denial of them.  The reason we seek peace, inner peace is because there is a war going within. When you accept what is, then you are no longer fighting it. You are now open to the infinite healing opportunities that the universe has in store for you. And slowly but steadily you will move towards a healthier state of being…