Battles of the Mind

We live in a world where many suffer from mental illness, an issue that is not always physically seen but can be wholly as present as any other issue. We live in a nation where a new international study has criticised Ireland for its lack of reform in the mental health sector. We live in a generation where many continue to merely survive rather than thrive. We live in a society where asking for help equals failure rather than strength.

We are surrounded by people who fail to be considerate of those suffering from mental illness, who fail to acknowledge the worry and dread. People who fail to imagine what it is like second guessing, questioning every word spoken, every answer received, every action taken, every look given at any given time.

I suffer from mental illness along with many others.

I too experience feeling trapped in a cyclone of fear and negative thoughts, over analysing, overthinking every little thing.

That feeling of uncontrollable thoughts, running wild in a million different directions.

The voice in the back my mind that becomes my biggest commentator that constantly points out every flaw and worst scenario in any situation.

With anxiety I’ve felt everything and nothing.

We may need anxiety to survive but when it becomes a mental illness it stops us from truly living. It constantly holds us back from the things we want to do or the dreams we want to achieve.

But as I’m experiencing this I am becoming more aware of how little people understand mental health if they’ve never experienced it. I’m realising how little is done by people, schools and our government for those suffering with a mental illness.

I do not want to become one of the many people who ignore mental illness, so I recently created ‘Battles of the Mind’ a project that raises awareness for mental health using virtual audio illusions.

These illusions can make someone feel like they are experiencing different mental health issues first hand when they listen. With this project, l hope to help people understand mental health to help reduce people’s ignorance towards it. I entered this project into the Foróige Youth Citizenship Awards and received a silver award. I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to present it to Minister David Stanton and Mary Lou McDonald.

With this project, I hope to make people realise that smiling doesn’t mean someone is happy and not crying doesn’t mean someone is not sad. I hope to help in creating an environment where people believe asking for help is strength and not failure, where we can speak about our mental health and not be stigmatised, an environment where we can say we are not okay. I hope to raise awareness for the issues that are unseen, that are hidden behind our masks, the battles of our minds. Mental illness may be many things, but weakness is not one of them.

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