If you’ve been following this blog, you may have noticed something I do at the bottom of many posts: I pitch for mental health awareness—but I don’t actually write mental health as a goal. People have told me I should. They say good mental health is what everyone should strive for. But here’s the truth I’ve learned the hard way: for many of us, “mental health” isn’t a finish line we can just jog across with a smoothie in one hand and a yoga mat in the other.
For people living with schizophrenia, PTSD, bipolar disorder, OCD, or other serious conditions—conditions caused by genetics, trauma, and environments that can’t be undone with kale—“mental health” as an end goal can be unrealistic. Diet and exercise help, absolutely. But they don’t cure. And pretending they do is a setup for shame.
That’s my problem with how society uses the phrase mental health. It often ends up rewarding the people who already have it and shaming the ones who don’t. It’s like giving out gold medals at a race where half the runners had ankle weights strapped on since childhood. When a person who is already mentally healthy says, “You just need better mental health,” it feels a lot like, “You just need to be more like me.” That does nothing for someone who is actively fighting their own brain. It's like a breast cancer awareness campaign that only rewards people who don't have breast cancer.
Same with smoking. Shaming a smoker rarely gets them to quit—but encouraging recovery does. You don’t beat addiction with guilt. You beat it with support, compassion, and not punishing yourself every time your brain does something human.
Health—mental, physical, emotional, spiritual—is not a competition. It shouldn’t be treated like one. It’s a treatment plan. It’s a journey. It’s a daily choice. And it looks different for everyone.
So yeah, I don’t use the phrase “mental health” as some kind of shiny life goal. What I support is mental health awareness—the honesty, the struggle, the reality, the understanding. The stuff that actually helps.
And quitting smoking? Same deal. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being better than yesterday.
Day 35. I’m still here. I’m still doing this.
I got this!
by Dan and Bonkers
SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS TODAY!!!
