"Everything will be okay soon enough. It just takes time."

mental health
noun
a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.

Photo courtesy of Mar Newhall.

Mental disorders

A mental disorder could be easily broken down into a simpler wording by saying that a mental disorder is something that makes you think abnormal thoughts or emotions and makes you act more negatively towards others.
Some of the more known mental disorders are depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, and anxiety. Eating disorders are also mental illnesses, although most people think otherwise.
The WHO has stated that most of these illnesses have found a cure or that they are working on it.

How is this connected to me?

I have always thought of myself as a deep thinker. There have been questions about whether deep thinking affects your mental health negatively and the answer is "sort of". A person on the Q&A website Quora answered this question very nicely: over-thinking is the brain's search function, which upon reaching a dead-end makes a person depressed. I don't think of myself as a very depressed person, but I most definitely feel that I think of really bad things quite often and I often feel like ranting about how I feel. I am also an introvert (like most Estonians anyway) and tend to get quite anxious in social situations.

How do I cope with it?

My way of coping with my negative mental state is expressing my feelings. That leads to me writing poetry or just talking to a friend about however I feel about it. I also listen to quite a lot of music, which often helps me calm down. There are also podcasts about mental health topics and my favourite one is The Hilarious World of Depression which is led by an American writer named John Moe. This podcast welcomes writers, comedians and other so-to-say "famous people", who talk about their experiences with mental illnesses. I also write down a lot of my thoughts in a little Moleskine notebook.

How can you improve your own mental health?

The best points I found about this topic are also from Quora:

1. Consciously practicing focusing on the positive side. This is one of the most important ones. Negative thoughts often bring out the worst in you and helping yourself to positivity most certainly helps.
2. Meditation and breath work. Whenever you feel anxious - breathe.
   
3. Some great tips to increase your chemical mental health. Concluding your days with happy moments, a healthy diet, exercising for at least 45 minutes a day, being together for at least one meal every day.
4. Being in the right environment. Watch out for other people making you feel negative, they might not be right for you. Also make your surroundings feel a bit more happy: have colorful walls at home, go outside and see the green grass and the trees.
5. Therapy. Yes, it really does help. It has helped for me and it might help for you. Maybe you should try it.

How can I help a friend in need?

The most important thing is to listen to them and be there for them, when they need you. Venting your emotions as often as possible really helps. Whether it is a real person or just a notebook in my case, writing or talking about your feelings and really thinking them through helps.

This was a very brief guide about mental health - how do you feel about yourself and your friends/family? Do you feel like mental health is a topic, which you feel awkward to talk about with your friend or do you think everyone should do it?