A Message About Mental Health & Positivism

Christine Camirand is a lovely lady I have known for more than 25 years, when we worked together at a place called the Long Group in Toronto.
Today is the Bell declared “Let’s Talk” Day (about Mental Health).
In keeping with that, Christine wrote this particularly moving piece on the issue. I thought it was really worth sharing.
Everybody out there has mental health issues at some place or other in their lives or in their closest circles.
Before I was diagnosed with and treated for Tic Syndrome, I was convinced I had anger issues and sought out psychological help. It was the beginning of a 2 year journey that led me to my diagnosis and the means to control it.
Not everybody is that lucky. And not everybody who doesn’t feel positive all the time is not suffering from a mental illness.

Christine’s Message

"I have been thinking about this for a while, and I suppose BELL’s LET’S TALK DAY is as good a day as any to post this. There are a lot of posts about being positive and commands to THINK POSITIVE.
Of course, this is good advice and striving to be positive is a good thing. Some of us, however, just feel even more pressure when we see this friendly piece of advice.
While it may be in your nature to be positive or easy for you to even “force yourself” to be positive, it’s not quite as easy for all of us.

Personally, I feel forcing myself to “be positive” is false. If I am not genuinely feeling positive, I would rather not pretend or otherwise force it.
Certainly there are tricks to make yourself feel better, smile; dance; sing…eat cake! But if these tricks still don’t put you in a positive mood, there is nothing wrong with just being whatever you are at that moment.
Just please realize that whether it’s a mental health issue, a personality trait, or some other momentary hardship at that point in time, not everyone can feel positive on demand and not everyone feels the need to falsely switch their mood just because it bothers someone else.
Everyone would like to be happy and positive as much as they can, but it is more difficult for some than others. Sometimes you just need to let someone be cranky or sad or angry – and listen.
That usually does more good than to continually insist that they be positive. Thanks for listening.”

There is a lot of ‘let’s be positive’ chatter going on all the time on beBee and other social media sites. But Christine’s words have a real ring of truth to them.
Fighting your own true feelings for the sake of being 'positive' is actually something that can create mental health problems in some people.
It’s always best to be yourself and get the most out of living. But it’s also smart to understand that sometimes life will get to you and feeling positive is the last thing on your mind.
Reality is what it is. And I believe, like Christine does, that it’s the whole range of moods and emotions that we feel that make us who were are.
If you mess with that too much, you’re just asking for trouble.

Bell Canada's "Let's Talk" is a powerful initiative that really shines a light on a lot of mental health issues. http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/
Please share this post across your network. You never know who will get something positive out of it. Thanks, Jim

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