#7DaysOfWLL... Mental Health Awareness Week

Hola Lexicans! For the 5th day of my #7DaysOfWLL, I'm going to be writing a post on mental health, as this week is Mental Health Awareness Week. A blogger friend of mine, Gracie, is taking part in this project that bloggers are doing where they spread the word on mental health issues and asked me to take part so that's what I'm doing today! You can go check out Gracie's post here as she had some very good points.

Fortunately, I have not experienced a mental health issue yet, and neither has a close family member of mine, so I am by no means an expert. If something I say is incorrect, you disagree with or upsets you please let me know! Also, this post could be triggering from certain people so I just wanted to let you know as the last thing I want to do is upset anyone.

Mental health is just like your physical health (and arguably more important) but instead of it being how healthy and fit your body is, it is how healthy your mind is. When you have a cold or a headache (a physical health issue) people moan and stay off school a lot of the time, and it goes within a few days. However mental health issues, like depression or anxiety, can stick with you for years but you don't get to miss school or take medication until you feel better. No, you have to push through, pretend everything's okay.

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Or do you? There are definitely always things you can do to help. I'm not saying this is something that can go overnight, or even across weeks. This is a long-term process, but one that we can complete. There are a lot of charites and people you can talk to. Firstly, the obvious people: friends, siblings, parents, teachers or anyone else you trust. You can even talk to people anonymously (or not) over the phone or submit your thoughts to an anonymous website - I know charites like Samaritans, Heads Together, Childline and Rethink all offer support. Or start your own blog to share your journey battling a mental health issue. Whatever you do, don't bottle it up - you have to talk someone.

Another thing I know helps a lot of people with mental health issues is drawing. You may be absolutely awful at art *cough me* or already be planning to take it for A-levels but drawing, painting, sketching, sculpting or any other form or art you can think of helps. Just let your creativity run free, and don't stress about perfection.

If any of you do feel unsecure about your current mental health situation, make sure you seek help and if you feel confident enough you can contact me. I'm not an expert, but I may be able to help so you can email me (whatlexieloves@gmail.com) or comment on this post if you want (obviously you can keep it anonymous!!)

Hope this post was interesting and helped any of you! Do you agree with my points? Or do you have something else to say that wasn't mentioned? I'd love to see some of you do your own post talking about mental health! Anyway byeee for now!

Xxx