Mental health is a broad term, and a pretty difficult term to define in our individual contexts. According to mentalhealth.gov, mental health is defined as “our, emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act.” The term is also complicated through our social context and the pressures and stress in our lives.
College is an extremely difficult time and through class, homework, going out, philanthropy events, eating, and finally sleeping, mental health is something we pay very little homage to until it’s too late. Until students are so bogged down, grades slip, breakdowns happen, and then woops! You have to take some time off.
The disgusting reality of the college culture is that it rewards poor mental health. Stay with me here, staying at the library until 3 a.m. four nights a week is not sustainable or healthy, but people see it as dedication and being studious. Going out on the weekends and socializing is important too, but if you aren’t going out and drinking, posting on social media, you might be seen as backward.
The pressure to be all things to all people is crippling. Getting the internships, taking the hard classes, being social, working out, getting good grades, trying to look good, perhaps date, it all can’t be done, trade-offs are essential to maintaining sanity.
To add another layer of madness to this already troubling equation is that college students love to brag to each other and share how stressed out they are. It’s impossible to get through the day without hearing one person say how stressed out they are or illustrate how much they have to do. I hear so many students comment about how badly they want to drop out or just quit all together.
Isn’t this troubling to anyone else? It deeply saddens me to know so many students are pushed to breaking points because no one is helping and each individual person is responsible for his or her own mental health. Are the institutions we are attending to better ourselves oppressing our health to the point where it becomes unattainable to continue?
Mental health isn’t about taking deep breaths and going to yoga classes. Mental health is so much more than that. Personally, I’ve been so overwhelmed with schoolwork I found tears running down my face in the middle of the library. Is that okay? Should we accept that as the inevitable suffering that accompanies college? Absolutely not.
The institutions and the college culture that our generation is engulfed in, is not supportive to proper mental health. Feeling on edge and snappy all the time is not what goes along with “the college experience.” Getting so drunk students black out regularly to deal with the stress of college is directly aligned to a low level of mental health.
Even if nothing I said rings a bell with you, good reader, please share with someone who would relate, because being aware that personal mental health is important can be the difference between getting help or continued silent suffering. It’s time we step up to the plate and know the difference between harmful habits, and what decent mental health embodies.
