Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day.\u00a0 A day to focus on the importance of talking about our mental health.<\/p>\n
So let’s talk.<\/p>\n
How are you doing right now?\u00a0 I mean, REALLY<\/em> doing?\u00a0 \u00a0Because it helps to share.\u00a0 It helps to TALK about it.<\/p>\n If I am being honest with you, I would say that there have been a lot of days, where I’m not<\/em> doing so good.\u00a0 There are days I don’t want to be here.\u00a0 I don’t want to smile and pretend it’s all good when it feels like the world is falling apart.<\/p>\n I love my job and I love that I have an employer that cares about me and takes the time to ask if I’m okay.\u00a0 \u00a0I appreciate that we are checked up on and encouraged to take time for ourselves if we need it.\u00a0 I’m so grateful.\u00a0 I realize it’s not that way in every workplace.<\/p>\n The world is tough enough on a regular day, but throw a pandemic in the mix, and life gets so much harder to navigate.\u00a0 These last two years have been incredibly hard.\u00a0 So much uncertainty.\u00a0 Change.\u00a0 Fear.\u00a0 Anxiety.\u00a0 Loneliness.\u00a0 Isolation.\u00a0 Anger.<\/p>\n I’ve always considered myself a positive person. Strong.\u00a0 But this pandemic has challenged me.\u00a0 It has impacted my mental health more than I ever expected it would.\u00a0 Such a roller coaster ride.\u00a0 I think the hardest thing to deal with has been the negativity, and seeing how cruel some people can be to others they don’t even know.\u00a0 It can make\u00a0 you feel more alone.<\/p>\n That’s why this day is so important. So we know it’s okay to talk about it.<\/p>\n We tend to push through the hard, bury those feelings of hurt.\u00a0 We try to forget what caused the pain.\u00a0 We tell ourselves, and anyone who asks,\u00a0 we’re “fine”, when really, we aren’t.\u00a0 We want to think<\/em> we are and we’ve moved on, but when you don’t<\/em> talk about the thing that hurt you, that broke you, that nearly destroyed you – you carry it.\u00a0 And even the most positive people reach a point when they realize that load is too heavy.<\/p>\n So if I’m being real<\/em> and honest<\/em>, I will share this with you.\u00a0 For the first time in my life, in the last six months, I reached out for help.\u00a0 I felt the weight of EVERYTHING in my life that I had been carrying for many years, and I knew I couldn’t keep carrying it, and I spilled it all with a trusted source and for the first time I felt HEARD and UNDERSTOOD and so relieved.\u00a0 Didn’t make the situation go away or get easier to handle at times.\u00a0 But SHARING the load helped.<\/p>\n You matter.<\/p>\n Your thoughts, your feelings, your opinions, your beliefs – they all matter.\u00a0 YOU matter.<\/p>\n Don’t ever feel it’s too late to reach out for help, or feel like your problems don’t matter, or it’s been too many years to be fixed.<\/p>\n Reach out for help and talk to someone who will listen and help you feel HEARD.\u00a0 Because it does matter and it’s so important to talk about all of it.<\/p>\n I am in a much better place today because of those conversations where I was given the freedom to open up without judgement, but with compassion and understanding and it has helped me heal so much.<\/p>\n Find what works for you.\u00a0 We have so much available in our area to help. Don’t keep it to yourself.\u00a0 Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.<\/p>\n And on a day when we’re encouraged to TALK about mental health, let me share one of the things that has helped me the last six months.\u00a0These podcasts offered by Life’s Seasons Speaks<\/a> are so incredibly valuable.\u00a0 Take a listen.\u00a0 They have brought me to tears many times and have been the healing that I’ve needed.<\/p>\n Check in on those around you today.<\/p>\n Encourage someone today.\u00a0 Reach out to someone and just offer your support.\u00a0 Offer a friendly word of encouragement.\u00a0 Sit and listen.\u00a0 Reach out and ask someone how they are doing.\u00a0 You have NO idea how much someone might need it.<\/p>\n I had the BEST phone call yesterday afternoon from a wonderful listener who was so kind to me.\u00a0 Who thanked me for helping them through the last two years.<\/p>\n You have NO IDEA how much that means.<\/p>\n We love what we do here.\u00a0 We love showing up for you and sharing life with you – whether it’s me in the afternoon, or George and Sarah in the morning, or Eve getting you through from 10 – 2.\u00a0 But there are days when we are feeling it all too.\u00a0 The hurt, the anger, the frustration and sadness.\u00a0 We feel it too.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s been hard on ALL of us.\u00a0 You are not alone in the struggle.<\/p>\n But don’t keep the struggle to yourself.\u00a0 Reach out.\u00a0 Talk about it.<\/p>\n We are a strong community.\u00a0 \u00a0We have been through a lot these past few years and we will get through this.\u00a0 But we have to keep talking about how we’re doing and we have to keep being there for each other, and lifting each other up, and looking out for each other.<\/p>\n Thank you for being a support to me through it all.\u00a0 Thank you for your words of encouragement.\u00a0 I appreciate every single message I get.\u00a0 They lift me up and remind me what I love about this community and this job, so it’s a bit easier to turn the mic on and smile and laugh and share life with you every afternoon.<\/p>\n Take care and let’s keep the conversation going.\u00a0 Because it matters.\u00a0 Today and every day.<\/p>\n x<\/p>\n Carrie<\/p>\n Reach out anytime – cbuchanan@blackburnmedia.ca<\/a><\/p>\n Resources for help –<\/p>\n