My Aha Moment: Mental Health is Health -- by Vance Meyer, Board President, NAMI Jacksonville

Taken from the quarterly newsletter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Jacksonville -- December 2023

Those of us who live with mental illnesses often have “aha moments.” 

It may be something we discovered in therapy. Or something someone said in a support group. Perhaps it jumped out of a book or movie, or hit us when we were just walking down the street. 

Aha moments give us insights into our own journeys or offer something practical we can do differently to get better.

In my long recovery from disabling depression symptoms, the aha moment that made the biggest difference for me was the simple realization that mental health is health.

It involves the brain and body chemistry.  It involves our genes. It involves the central nervous system. It involves the gut, and more.

It may or may not involve a lifelong battle with symptoms that can be constant, come and go, or change. The symptoms can be serious, mild, and everything in between. They can be brought on by accidents, stress, mental or physical abuse and trauma, the weather, or any number of other big or small triggers.

Like physical health, people who are mentally well can do things to stay well. People who are not well can do things to bring some measure of relief, if not substantial or complete relief.

Physical and mental health both involve nutrition, exercise, sleep, relationships, fulfilling work, recreation, and more. They both may involve a trip to the doctor or therapist, or medications, or meditation, or prayer.

For 30 years — over a range of symptoms and severities — I searched high and low for a silver bullet or an answer hidden under a rock that I had not yet turned over. For me and most every recovering person I know, there wasn't one. The answers seem even more elusive for my good friends who suffer from other forms of mental illness like schizophrenia.

For the rest of my life, I will be pulling on as many levers as I can to avoid emotional pain and address it when it occurs. Every day, I blow it in one or more areas of my wellness, and sometimes it catches up with me. But the thing that keeps me hopeful and even excited is knowing that I am like everybody else, and that I live in a community of people who are going through it with me. 

It may be a result of our common experiences, but I find that many of my friends who live with mental illness are caring people who prefer meaningful discussion about the substance of life that runs through the nonsense that distracts everyone these days. Even my more reserved friends seem to embody reservoirs of insight that may spill out in a few words that are just what I need in the moment.

As we move through the remainder of the holidays and a New Year, may I encourage all of you – no matter how mentally healthy you feel – to identify one big or little thing that you can do more of, less of, or differently to make yourself more healthy in the coming months. Share it with a friend or family member. It may turn out be an aha moment for you or someone else.