Mental Mind Blocks

Today, protecting and strengthening our ‘mental health’ could not be more important. With our quick pace, 24/7 culture, we face more stress from our daily lives than before. Many of us work extended hours or multiple jobs, and take fewer vacations. In fact, one in three American employees is chronically overworked. The line between work and home life is often blurred so home is no longer a place of rest. Sleep and exercise feel like luxuries. We are eating poorly more often. We are constantly bombarded with information. We are also more disconnected from family, friends, and neighbors, and less engaged in our communities than we use to be. Trusting in one another has steadily declined over the last 30 years. Children aren’t immune either; many are racing from on activity to another without any downtime.(2007 Mental Health America.)

Connections, connections. Improving my self-care of the mind and emotions proceeds mastery of communication skills. Being tough on myself the therapist reassures she will help to remedy.

For as long as I can recall, I have been the "quiet kid" in nearly all of my classes. My soft-spoken and introverted nature are to thank for this. Sure, these traits of mine make social interactions- a vital aspect of society- more difficult for me; a sigh of relief and a mild sense of accomplishment always follow a successful conversation. However, through my interests and hobbies, I have discovered a form of communication far more powerful and universal than words will ever be to me.

Communicating with my peers has been a hefty struggle with me for years. For me to speak with one partner let alone a whole class was challenging enough. Through elementary, I used to speak in quiet stutters that required an ear full to get a word.

Mental health is a fundamental aspect of our well-being as well as being a determining factor in obtaining a healthy lifestyle. However due to genetic, psychological, biological and environmental influences contributes to an imbalance of one’s mental health. Thus causing mental illnesses which include major shifts in mood, thinking and/or behavior. Because of the stigma that mentally ill people are “crazy and dangerous” results in discrimination among this community. What many failed to realize is the commonality of the diagnoses and how being label mentally ill can be beneficial. According to New York Daily, about 42 million American adults suffer from mental illnesses, enduring conditions such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar

I was shy, and had no courage to face the students and communicate my ideas to the class. Nevertheless, being in this class has taught me a lot about how to interact with others. I have been able to learn how to interact with people using the crucial communication skills required. Now I can confidently stand in front of a class and present my ideas maintaining eye contact, ensuring there is careful selection of words, organizing ideas well bearing in mind that maintaining a good flow of ideas is equally important. Communication is a key aspect in social life and thus this experience was not just for academic purpose but it equipped me with an important skill in life. Developing effective communication has raised my self-esteem, which is an essential while facing the real

“Why am I always so frightened to talk?” This thought didn’t make sense. I looked at other kids and they didn’t mind talking in front of the class. When I walked up in front of the class I got extremely nervous. I was in third grade and I wasn't very good at reading. People would make fun of me for it. “Dont pick on Alex he can't read right.” I let these comments get to me and I wanted to change this!

As an introvert, I’ve always hated having meaningless conversations with others. Conversations where others try to manage me feel meaningless, so I think I accidentally developed the skill to take action when I need to take action and accept the fallout of everything that I do so that I wouldn’t have to talk to others about it. It’s so much more pleasant to speak to one’s parents and teachers about subject that are actually enjoyable instead of having conversations where there’s nagging on one side and resentment on the

Communication is limited as the non verbal cues can be lost, a reassuring smile or nod or a concerned expression missed. Communication through writing or reading are not always there and a lack of wanting to socialise may become apparent. To help overcome these communication problems it is important to help build confidence,

To practice how to communicate with strangers, I started to have a first try of a summer job to take care child in Youth work Program. In order, I had no experience in how to communicate with my mentor or other staff members. So I was very quiet and shy to remain modest and prudent, but I thought I did my job perfectly, until the day my mentor became angry because I did not tell her I switched the schedule of my job. She told me that society is not like school or home, because you always need to work and communicate with strangers, otherwise no one can help you.  After the talk with my mentor, I listened to the opinions of others and learned how to communicate with adults. So i decided to figure out what interests or experience we had in common to create topics of discussion  with other staff. I asked for help from my mentor when I met difficulties. For example, I did not know how to feel child’s emotion. Therefore, my mentor and staff shared their own personal experience and stories to how to solve the problem. At the same time. I noticed that communication became easier to understand others and made me self confident. To get more closer with my mentor and staffs I shared food with them to build

Communication is something that all beings use, whether it be animals or humans. It is “the process by which we use signs, symbols, and behaviors to exchange information and create meaning” (Floyd, 2011). Communication styles vary by different people, but it can be summed up the way we interact with others and how one is perceived and how we perceive ourselves. Communication apprehension is the level of fear that a person has of speaking. To test this, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension was used to measure my level of apprehension. Throughout this assessment, I will self-reflect on my strengths and areas I can use improvement on.

Mental health can be one of the hardest subjects to talk about because of the stigmatization that surrounds it. Those suffering from a mental health disorder tend to struggle to reach out for the help they need, because they are too afraid of how others might perceive them. Those suffering with mental illnesses shouldn’t be afraid to reach out for help, but because of the stigma on mental illnesses, people do not reach out for proper care that they need. As a society, the stigma against mental health must be stopped.

In third grade I struggled staying focused in school; consequently, I became cautious of my speaking.

One of my favorite quote by the greatest success motivational planner, Paul J. Meyer is “communication- the human connection- is the key to personal and career success.” As Meyer stated, it is indeed crucial to have communication in order to gain success. Communication is an important part of human life. No matter what we are doing, we are constantly communicating, conversing and exchanging ideas. So far in my life I have overcome social anxiety, and communicating has been the weapon I used to break my fear. So when it comes to communication, I take it very seriously that I communicate effectively with people around me. I have two communication strategies I use to communicate effectively with professors and friends/peers. These two strategies are, the first being direct and to the point and the second is always having the reminder that the world doesn’t revolve around me. Strategies I would like to begin using such as encouraging feedback and plans that help build my communicative toolbox.

Over the course of this past semester, I have learned a lot of things about myself that I did not expect to learn. Through the exercise that we did in this class I learned a lot of things about myself that needed improvement or what I was too stubborn to change. This led me to see a therapist to get rid of something to improve my social and professional life. One of the problems that I figured out that I had through this class and counseling was my communication skills and staying present while learning to accept every outcome that happens. This was very hard for me because I have a thing with being in control of everything that happens to me and around me so trying to stay present and looking into the future was a lot for me.