Mental Wellness

      The World Health Organization defines Mental Wellness as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” As we can see, Mental Wellness is more than just the absence of mental illness. A mentally well person can think, feel and act on sound decisions which impact positively on himself, and his physical and social environment. Mentally well people possess a healthy self-image and are in control of their thoughts, emotions and behaviour. It is important for us to be mentally well so we can live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.

No doubt life can be brutal at times. Many times we find ourselves in situations which cripple our self-esteem and threaten our mental health. Achieving and sustaining mental wellness throughout our lives requires work; which suggests you have to deliberately, willfully dedicate time and effort to your mental health. I wish I had realized this a long time ago. I would have saved myself from a lot of emotional pain by being in control of my reaction to traumatic events in my life. Nevertheless, I believe in the saying "Better late than never". Harsh life lessons taught me mental wellness occurs when we conscientiously work on the following: our physical health, self-care, relationships, our finances  and identifying and pursuing our passion and purpose in life. I'm by no means perfect, I'm on a journey just like you and you know what they say about health: it's a journey, not a destination.