“Mundane” Lives Can Still Be Affected by Mental Health

This blog is for people who are feeling some type of way because of their day-to-day tasks, whether that be feeling anxiety while waiting for public transportation or feeling a deep depression when you are unable to ace that big exam. This blog is for the people who are struggling with mental health, yet do not realize that what they are feeling are symptoms of mental health issues. This blog was created simply to highlight the fact that there are many mundane situations that are leading to mental health issues and I wanted to highlight this fact just so that people are aware that these are true problems and deserve to be treated as such.

Food insecurity is a mental health issue. When someone is unable to eat a well-balanced diet, this not only affects their physical health but their mental health as well. In 2017, 40 million Americans struggled with hunger. Health care is a mental health issue. If someone is unable to afford their medication and is in a constant state of pain, it becomes difficult to muster a smile. In 2018, there were 27.9 million Americans who were uninsured, with 45 percent of that 27.9 million claiming they were uninsured because they could not afford it. Childcare is a mental health issue. Wages are a mental health issue. There are so many things that are mentally affecting us that we tend to push over because these have become commonplace.

Although these statistics have become ordinary, that does not mean that they are normal. If you are having daily panic attacks as you wonder how you’ll survive on minimum wage, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t acknowledge your struggle because other people are also making minimum wage. It simply means that this mundane thing that is causing you issues may also be affecting the millions of other people who deal with it. Imagine if they all felt like you. We try to ignore these ordinary things that are wreaking havoc on our mental health because we believe that there are others who have it worse, but we fail to realize that mental health is a spectrum. We all deserve to acknowledge the pain that we’re in—no matter how small it may seem—so that we may seek help.