Celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month by Taking Time for You
We’ve likely all heard the old adage, “you can’t pour from an empty vessel”. It is meant to remind us to refuel and replenish. We cannot give to others that which we no longer possess, but as a Black woman this seems impossible. I’m a wife, mother, classroom teacher, and doc student with a million and one responsibilities and tasks. May is Mental Health Awareness month. I find that I’m often too tired to think about my mental health, let alone work on it. But if I wanted to, how does one replenish a vessel? Where do we go to get refilled?
The answer is we find our kindred spirits. We bond and link with those who share our desire to leave the world better than we found it. We connect to the teachers fighting for equitable representation and dispelling stereotypes in classroom curriculum. We lift up and support the authors and activists fighting against a monolithic representation of who we are and what we can be.
Each time I read a story that goes beyond the stereotypical representation of what it means to be Black I am replenished. Every time I read the academic work of those fighting for racial justice in the classroom my soul is renewed.
It’s in taking the time to have dinner and drinks with friends, with people who don’t require pretenses and personas — -where my authentic, sometimes hot mess of a self is fully accepted — -that my vessel fills a little more.
Each of our vessels fills differently. Some of our souls are renewed in the writing of poetry or the singing of songs. Maybe by painting or writing or laying on the couch in that spot that the sun shines on and makes warm or a massage.
In whatever way we need to be refilled, we must be willing to take the time to do so.
But why? Why does it matter if we ever refill our souls?
If you have ever traveled by air you have likely heard the flight attendant announce, “Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.” We’re directed to take care of ourselves first, not because we’re selfish or more important, but because we can’t help anyone if we pass out from lack of oxygen. In actuality, helping ourselves means we are in a better, safer space to help others. Everyone suffers when we don’t put our masks on first.
I’ll admit I struggle with this notion of caring for myself in general, and definitely caring for myself first, but as we embark on this Mental Health Awareness month I’m encouraged to realize that it’s okay to put myself first. More than that, it’s necessary. In the event of an emergency I have to be in a position to help those around me and that can only happen if I take care of myself. I can only run on fumes for so long before I can’t help myself or anyone else.
Flight attendants say to put your own mask on first but the truth of the matter is some days I’m the one in need of assistance. I’m learning to let people in and let them help me to be okay with asking for help and confident that I’ve surrounded myself with amazing people who I can trust to assist me with my mask on those days when I just can’t do it myself. There’s a blessing in having people in my circle who check on me when I’ve gone silent for too long. People who carry my dreams and hopes for me when I’m too tired to carry them myself. The ones who let me rest, but won’t let me quit.
This May especially, but year round, take care of your mental health. Take the time to care for yourself, to put on your oxygen mask first, but also don’t be ashamed of those days when you need assistance because taking care of you helps you take care of everyone else.
This blog post is part of the #31DaysIBPOC Blog Series, a month-long movement to feature the voices of indigenous and teachers of color as writers and scholars.
Please CLICK HERE to read yesterday’s blog post by [Susana Flores] (and be sure to check out the link at the end of each post to catch up on the rest of the blog series).
