The Mental Health Digest - Does it ever get better? Yes, but...

Does it ever get better? Yes, but...

By Jordan Brown - Mental Health Newsletter Writer, Poet, Social Worker, and Advocate • Issue #313 • View online

There’s a repeating and concerning theme in many conversations in my professional and personal life.

The following words may not be the exact ones that are said or typed or texted, but the message is clear:

Does it ever get better?

It does.

But not in the ways you might think.

I’ve highlighted the four main points below, but you won’t fully understand unless you digest the context that comes before them.

Will Life Ever Get Better? - The Translation

It’s such a loaded question, “Will life ever get better?”

And, for me, when I ask these words, I don’t actually mean that.

Like most difficult questions, the first words that come to the surface aren’t the ones that are submerged deep below.

Let me explain.

“My life is horrible. I want this pain to go away.”

When I was dealing with major depression years ago, I absolutely had these thoughts.

But they weren’t the precise thoughts that described my exact situation.

Life is more nuanced than that.

My precise thoughts took time to find, and I only could get there through deep reflection.

Thoughts like:

Why isn’t my doctor listening to me?
Why can’t my coworkers understand how much pressure I’m under?
I wish I had more money to meet all these financial obligations.

The massive overwhelm of “Does it get better?” is really a combination of several heavy thoughts, and the ones I’ve listed above only scratch the surface.

If you’ve gotten to a point where you’re overwhelmed and wondering if it will ever get better, or if life will ever get easier, you have to understand a few things.

The Road to Better

Things will get better. They always do.

I know.

That seems like a bold statement.

But the undeniable reality is that life is always changing.

You are not the same person at the end of the day as the person you were when the day started.

And because life is always changing, that means there are millions of moments for you to step into “better.”

But let’s quickly move away from the abstract and dig deep into what this all means for you.

Here is the truth in the struggle. The gold flecks in the long river of time

Nothing–and I mean nothing–is permanent. The pain you’re in now is evolving at this very moment. The only permanent decisions are the most drastic ones, and that’s not actually a solution. It’s removing yourself from the game of life. I’ve been in that position before, and it’s not an answer. The answers are out there–you just haven’t discovered them yet.
“Better” is relative. Better for you is not better for someone else. Remember that. To find your “better” you need to find the questions and thoughts that are hidden deep beneath the surface. You need to understand the vast ocean that is your life–and that takes time.
It’s not about hope. I’m sorry, it’s not. I thought that just having hope was enough to make things better for me, but it wasn’t. It was always deep reflection followed by mindful action. It was the act of being intentional. Action is what shifts you into a new reality.
Horrible, painful emotions like desperation are not all bad. It is during the times you feel these emotions that you actually are closest to windows of opportunity. When you don’t know where to go, it’s precisely at those moments that you can go anywhere. Think about that.

These four guiding posts will not change your life on their own. They are only part of the equation.

You still have to plug yourself and your mindful action into the equation.

And please, please remember to be gentle with yourself.

Better is not a one-time thing.

It’s an accumulation of thoughts and decisions and habits.

To be better is a personal journey.

The decision is where it starts.

And the end never comes.

Because “better” is all in the becoming.

We’re still dealing with a pandemic. Stress levels are higher than ever. Life does get better. If you’re feeling beyond overwhelmed, read this issue again. Print it out if you need to. Better yet, send it to a friend or family member and discuss it. Better is a process best gone through with others.

I truly hope you have a great week. Let me know if you need anything.

Jordan

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By Jordan Brown - Mental Health Newsletter Writer, Poet, Social Worker, and Advocate

The Mental Health Update provides you with authentic mental health articles that make mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and OCD meaningful AND accessible.

This is different from typical mental health newsletters and articles.

It's not just an Anxiety Email Newsletter or a Depression Email Newsletter - It's two weekly articles packed with timeless mental health wisdom and inspiration to start your day in a thoughtful, uplifting way.

I was tired of other newsletters blasting out generic lists of links and depression articles.

And I was especially tired of them not focusing on the everyday reality of mental health issues.

So I decided to come up with something I wanted to read.

This health newsletter is like a caring friend that just wants you to feel better.

Mental health awareness articles don't need to be all doom and gloom and filled with jargon.

With The Mental Health Update, you'll get practical mental health information, tips, and new ways to view the world. Especially now, with people reeling from the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, we need trusted voices telling it like it is.

We discuss topics like anxiety, depression, OCD, the mental health to mental illness spectrum, social and communication skills, and much, much more.

This is what a few subscribers had to say about The Mental Health Update:

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"Jordan's mental health update is a welcomed email in my inbox. It often provides me with a chance to break from the mundane tasks of working in an office and take a moment for myself to hear his thoughtful and well put together thoughts on many aspects of mental health. As someone who works in the psychology field it's often a nice reminder and way of grounding myself to all the great work that's going on and the journey we all must take in supporting mental health. Thank you Jordan!" - Rob

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The Mental Health Digest - Does it ever get better? Yes, but...

The Mental Health Update provides you with authentic mental health articles that make mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and OCD meaningful AND accessible.

This is what a few subscribers had to say about The Mental Health Update:

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