Lately I have seen a lot of Youtubers opening up about their mental health struggles and how much it has affected them. From the outside looking in most of these Youtubers seem to have it all, the perfect life, the subscribers and just overall the success others would dream of but this doesn't seem like the case. This doesn't go for just Youtubers but athletes like Calvin Ridley, Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have came forward about their struggles. This has led to them taking time away from their respective sports to focus on their mental health. A couple weeks ago there was news that the Character who plays Johnathan in Superman and Lois had to be recast ahead of them filming season three because the actor had decided to leave the show.
There was no explanation to why he left the show but a couple weeks after the actor, Jordan Elsass had posted about checking himself into therapy and how he had put his mental health to the side for so long that he couldn't do it anymore. It's not easy for a 21 year old dealing with growing up and trying to discover himself while also navigating the day to day of being in the public eye. All these people plus all the others who have come forward to discuss this, their suicide attempts and the depression and anxiety they go through have my respect. For me, I believe it's okay to not be okay. There is nothing wrong with being open about these things and seeking help to address it.
A lot of people hide their mental health struggles because they're afraid of being judged or not living up to the image they have proclaimed to the world. It has taken me a while to realize how much people go through on the daily and how some people wake up without knowing if they'll be able to go through the day. Some people have to fight all their demons and negative thoughts to get to work, school or their daily locations and for these people surviving the day is seen as a win until they realize they have to survive the next. I think the beginning of COVID 19 had a huge impact on people because due to us being in quarantine, most people had to actually deal with their problems and could not escape the anxiety, depression and numerous mental health struggles. There was no way to push them aside and lots of people didn't know how to deal with it.
Being locked inside the house without any communication to the outside world didn't help either. For me it was the opposite because I used that time as an opportunity to get better and really work on myself mentally. I was able to start reading again, learn new things and overall come back a better person but this was not the same for everyone. Overall no matter what we go through we just have to know that these hard times will not last forever and there is light at the end of the tunnel. We should ask for help whether family, friends, counselors or just anyone willing to offer a helping hand. Just know that you're not alone in this and there are several others going through their own struggles but we can always come out of it with strength we didn't have before. For anyone putting their mental health struggles to the side I think you should prioritize it because life is mostly mental and once you get that mental side taken care of, everything else will follow.
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