World Mental Health Day: Creating Space for Yourself

Seeing as it's World Mental Health Day today, I thought I'd share some thoughts I've been having recently.

The lack of adult responsibilities makes going back to youth seem like a dream but if you really go back youth wasn't all fun and games. Mean peers, teen angst and pressure at school are probably things every teenager experiences – getting through them required hard skin or a constant struggle.

If you think about it our childhoods are one of the greatest influences on our instincts, our automatic reflexes, and our lenses we see the world through. We spend the rest of our lives dealing with the consequences, reworking our learnings where we can, otherwise we remain beholden to our past.

There's a strong argument for giving young adults more space to deal with and process their emotions, and I think as working adults we too can create more space for ourselves. Space can be the gym, a walk, a meditation or a conversation.

Software engineers often talk about getting up from the computer and walking around the block when they're stuck on a problem. This is the space I'm talking about. It's breathing room from particularly stressful or mentally strenuous tasks. Our brain has to work hard to keep focus and without taking some deep and slow breaths we can struggle to keep going.

By getting up and going for a walk we are physically removing ourselves from an environment in which we were trapped. We're giving ourselves room to remind ourselves that it's the context that traps us and that contexts can change. Our stress levels decrease and our minds receive fresh air. Even if it's only metaphorical air – thanks London – we can go back to the problem with more space in which to solve it.

Space is room to think about ourselves, to reflect without judgement, to introspect with love. Why don't you make some space today for yourself? I'm going to try.

Stay well,

Luke