The importance of mental Health

Mental health is a topic that has faced some controversy, reforms, challenges, and advancements in the last couple of decades. Before the recent movements to make mental health support more acceptable and accessible, mental health wasn’t something discussed often. It was thought of as showing weakness to talk about how one was feeling or to reach out for help. Even now, with people constantly bringing it up at work trainings, on social media, and on other platforms, there seems to be a barrier and stigma associated with the topic of mental health. According to Rethink Mental Illness (2025), 93% of people still feel that there isn’t enough awareness about mental health and empathy toward mental illness. 88% of people think discrimination based on mental illness is still widespread, and 86% of people have said that fear of discrimination and stigma has stopped them from seeking help, applying for housing assistance, applying for promotions, or being close to their families. 

And yet, people are still talking about it and still preaching that mental health should be taken care of, safeguarded, and valued. People are still trying to break the stigmas and get the word out that taking care of yourself and asking for help is okay. There has been progress with 57% of people believing that stigma has decreased, according to Rethink Mental Illnesses (2025), but some feel it more than others. People with Borderline Personality Disorder, for example, have only 10% of people feeling as though the stigma related to their condition has improved, and only 15% of people with eating disorders feel the same. 

So, we keep talking about mental health and raising awareness of mental illness. 

But why? What is so important about mental health that it has people all over the world talking about it? Why should you care? 

Well, first, let’s break down some numbers related to mental illness in the United States that are near and dear to my heart. 

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) (2025), more than 1 in 5 adults, or 23.4% of adults in the U.S.A., suffer from mental illness. About 1 in 20, or 5.6%, suffer from serious mental illness. There is a large list of percentages based on specific disorders to include bipolar disorder 1 and 2, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and more, but to keep things simple, I’ll only list three here, which are Borderline Personality Disorder at 1.4%, Major Depressive Disorder at 15.5%, and General Anxiety Disorder at 19.1%. 

Mental illness affects a large number of people, and mental health awareness can be of great support to those people. But even without mental illness, mental health is important in general, as it is a part of keeping our bodies healthy and taking care of ourselves, and overall health. 

To understand this fully lets take a moment to talk about this wonderful organ in our bodies called the brain.

The brain is truly amazing. It is the organ that runs this meat machine we call a body. It tells the heart to beat, the lungs to draw in air, our bowels to move, and our muscles to contract in the right way to bring about movement. It is our ability to feel, taste, touch, see, smell, and hear the world around us. Our brain holds our memories, thoughts, and feelings, and it is what gives us the ability to communicate. 

Our brains are us in a sense. Without our brains, we couldn’t be who we are. We wouldn’t have our favorite foods, music we enjoy, or opinions on whether pineapple belongs on pizza if we didn’t have our brains.  

When people hear about mental health, often what comes to mind is someone sitting on a therapist’s couch getting in touch with their feelings and crying into a box of tissues. Or they think of people who are struggling with mental illness, which at times makes people uncomfortable due to a perceived lack of mental illness awareness and empathy.  At least, that is the image a lot of people I have spoken to had when I first started talking to them about this topic. But mental health is more than that. It is, in a way, taking care of and rewiring that beautiful brain to allow ourselves to fully experience our lives in meaningful ways. 

It is taking care of and protecting ourselves in the present and for the future.

One of the biggest benefits of taking care of mental health is that it gives us the ability to better handle stress.  

Stress is a fact of life. No one is immune to stress. 

Stress is also a killer. 

According to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (2023), unresolved stress can lead to many physical health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes. Symptoms of stress unmanaged include (but are not limited to) physical symptoms like headaches, weight gain, fatigue, and stomach issues. It can also include behavioral and emotional symptoms like increased anxiety, trouble sleeping, avoidance of social interactions, grumpiness or anger, and substance abuse. 

And it all starts with the brain and the way we think. 

Taking care of and talking about mental health is a lifesaver. It isn’t a cure for all stress; stress happens, but it allows us to deal with it better and get to the other side relatively unfazed. Good mental health practices can help us manage stress and negative emotions better. It can also help us respond to stress and negative emotions faster and give us a more positive outlook on life in general. On top of this, mental health discussions, particularly those around mental illness, done in ways that show empathy help others know they are not alone and allow people to reach out for support, making the world a better place in general. 

Mental health is one small part of taking care of overall health, but it shouldn’t be ignored or diminished in its value. 

My greatest desire in the coming blog posts is to help give you some tools to manage your mental health, deal with stress, and find a positive outlook on life, even when it is hard. I recognize that life can give you some nasty surprises from time to time, and there are days when you just cannot deal with the newest curveball life has thrown at you. That is okay. 

The lessons I want to give you are things I have had to learn through trial and error, research, and my own experiences of when life has thrown curveballs at me. I am not going to say I am perfect or that these tips will work for everyone because I am not, and some of them won’t. 

What I am going to say, though, is that you are not alone.

It is okay to ask for help. It’s OK not to be OK. It is OK to want to scream, cry, and lie in bed eating pineapple-covered pizza. 

The goal in this blog is to give people tools to get out of that bed and say, “It sucks, but I will be okay.” 

I dare you to talk about how you’re really feeling today. 

-Dare

P.s. Leave in the comments your opinion on pineapple on pizza! Be respectful!

References: 

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2023, August 10). How stress affects your body and behavior. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987 

NAMI. (2025, October 15). Mental health by the numbers. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/ 

Rethink Mental Illness. (2025). The stigma of mental illness in numbers. https://www.rethink.org/campaigns-and-policy/policy-and-influencing/stigma-and-discrimination/the-stigma-of-mental-illness-in-numbers/