What the price of purchasing objects to ease our daily load through the trials of modern day living. Should the price be based solely in monetary terms or as I believe on the cost to our mental health and physical well being, both of which are inextricably entwined and conjoined. I have a condition known as SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythremitis, an autoimmune disease that can cause overwhelming exhaustion, affect your skin, joints, internal organs, liver, kidneys, lungs, heart and brain. It can cause severe, prolonged migraines, seizures, depression, arthritis, degenerative conditions of the heart, kidney and liver. I am going through a particularly awful period of ill health at present and so have purchased artefacts to ease my burdens, as one would say. A cat waterfall fountain, to provide my animals with fresh, oxygenated water when I am so exhausted that it takes all of my energy just to ensure I can take my meds and eat and drink myself . I have also purchased an enclosed cat toilet, thereby reducing the amount of times I have to hoover up their mess as they trail the cat litter throughout the house behind them. This instantly decreases my stress and worry about the state of the house and the pungent smells that may inadvertently be left by my moggies when visitors arrive. I am still awaiting the arrival of my other purchases which are a couple of automatic food dispensers for their dry food. I need to know that when I am under par I can still provide the necessary care to those I love who are dependent on me and that I can keep the condition of my house in an orderly and clean state. Is this me being fussy, extravagant as I suspect some may say. I don't think so. For me and I suspect many others, knowing I can remain independent and not feel as though I am a burden and reliant on others is crucial to my mental health wellbeing and self esteem. If my mental health is impacted on in a detrimental way, this will inevitably have a negative impact on my physical health. I would argue therefore that these types of purchases are not trivial nor extravagant but beneficial and required for my good health and I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can afford to buy these things, not everyone is so lucky. So if you have a friend or know of someone who is under par, then perhaps you could ask them what type of gadgets they think would ease their daily living. As a group of friends or co-workers, you could then buy one of these collectively, as a get well gift, rather than flowers or chocolates, which although beautiful and appreciated are short lived. Too many times we ignore the importance of our mental health and it's impact on our physical wellbeing. We create the world we live in and we can do so by example. We cannot expect to live in a world where the importance of our mental health on our physical well being is accepted as the norm if we do not live and act in that way ourselves. Our actions, how we conduct ourselves and how we respond to and treat others can enable those around us to hold to and engage in the same behaviour, beliefs and principles. When we learn to love and embrace every aspect of ourselves in both the healthy periods as well as the unhealthy periods of our lives, then we are far more capable of supporting, encouraging and inspiring those around us in the world to do the same
We may not even be aware that our ability to talk freely about our mental health in both good and bad periods has helped another but I guarantee that at sometime it will do.
