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Written for The Male Hug - Men's Mental Health NFPThe Benefits of TalkingReleased: 2021
By Breanna Lancaster Maintaining good mental health helps you enjoy life and cope with the problems and stressors of everyday life. You don’t have to be diagnosed with a mental illness to recognise that good mental health is important to living a happy and healthy life.
When it comes to mental health, there’s a long list of things we can do to maintain it, but one of the most important and beneficial things is to talk. It’s as simple as venting to a friend, or finding someone you trust and sharing everything that’s causing you stress with them. It sounds simple on paper, but for many people, talking about their feelings doesn’t come naturally. Especially if you feel like you’ve never had the opportunity to do so, or never felt like anyone would listen. |
For men, talking about your mental health and things that are causing you stress in your lives, may be something you really struggle to do. It may feel like you’re being ‘weak’ or not capable of handling your responsibilities.
But talking, and getting to express how you’re feeling is a proven method of making you feel better.
Talking is something we do every day, be it making a phone call to book an appointment, at work, or catching up with friends. For a lot of us, talking can come as naturally as breathing, and it’s one of the most important things we can do when it comes to the topic of mental health, in both our personal and professional lives.
Mental health isn’t gender specific, and we shouldn’t treat it like it is. Talking about the things that are causing us stress and anxiety can make us feel better, and learning how to do that will help us continue to maintain good mental health.
There are so many benefits to talking about our mental health and it's important to do it regularly as it helps keep us sane and allows us to function in everyday life without being weighed down by our thoughts.
Talking helps remove the stigma so often associated with mental health and illness. By talking about mental illness on a more regular basis, we as a society will hopefully unveil the false notions that plague this topic. And by getting people openly talking about mental health, we can break down the stereotypes, improve relationships, aid recovery and continue to take the stigma out of something that affects us all.
The Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel speaks about ways talking to someone you trust, or someone outside of your day-to-day life can help you.
The ways talking may benefit you include:
• Helping you sort through the problems you’re experiencing
• Allowing you to see the problem more clearly, with the aid of an outside perspective
• Letting you look at the problem in a new or different way
• Helping to release built-up tension
• Finding out that you are not alone
• Identifying options or solutions you hadn’t thought of before
• Talking gives you a sense of doing something
Sometimes we can’t see past our own thoughts and stress, and we can’t see solutions for the problems we are experiencing. Talking to a friend, or someone you trust will give you the opportunity to hear solutions from somebody else who isn’t clouded by the stressors you’re experiencing. It allows you to achieve confidence in the answers you were questioning, as well as clear up any confusion you may be experiencing.
Talking about your feelings is daunting and may make you feel weak, but it also empowers you to use the support around you to work through your stressors and overcome the issues you are struggling with.
When overwhelming thoughts are bouncing around inside your head, a conversation is the best way to let them out and make some sense of them. This isn’t an instant remedy, but it provides you with an outlet and makes the pain, stress and confusion easier to manage.
But talking, and getting to express how you’re feeling is a proven method of making you feel better.
Talking is something we do every day, be it making a phone call to book an appointment, at work, or catching up with friends. For a lot of us, talking can come as naturally as breathing, and it’s one of the most important things we can do when it comes to the topic of mental health, in both our personal and professional lives.
Mental health isn’t gender specific, and we shouldn’t treat it like it is. Talking about the things that are causing us stress and anxiety can make us feel better, and learning how to do that will help us continue to maintain good mental health.
There are so many benefits to talking about our mental health and it's important to do it regularly as it helps keep us sane and allows us to function in everyday life without being weighed down by our thoughts.
Talking helps remove the stigma so often associated with mental health and illness. By talking about mental illness on a more regular basis, we as a society will hopefully unveil the false notions that plague this topic. And by getting people openly talking about mental health, we can break down the stereotypes, improve relationships, aid recovery and continue to take the stigma out of something that affects us all.
The Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel speaks about ways talking to someone you trust, or someone outside of your day-to-day life can help you.
The ways talking may benefit you include:
• Helping you sort through the problems you’re experiencing
• Allowing you to see the problem more clearly, with the aid of an outside perspective
• Letting you look at the problem in a new or different way
• Helping to release built-up tension
• Finding out that you are not alone
• Identifying options or solutions you hadn’t thought of before
• Talking gives you a sense of doing something
Sometimes we can’t see past our own thoughts and stress, and we can’t see solutions for the problems we are experiencing. Talking to a friend, or someone you trust will give you the opportunity to hear solutions from somebody else who isn’t clouded by the stressors you’re experiencing. It allows you to achieve confidence in the answers you were questioning, as well as clear up any confusion you may be experiencing.
Talking about your feelings is daunting and may make you feel weak, but it also empowers you to use the support around you to work through your stressors and overcome the issues you are struggling with.
When overwhelming thoughts are bouncing around inside your head, a conversation is the best way to let them out and make some sense of them. This isn’t an instant remedy, but it provides you with an outlet and makes the pain, stress and confusion easier to manage.
