Mental Health is a buzz word! It became even more popular after the just concluded Olympics Games in Tokyo. Some athletes’ struggles at the Olympics were clearly related to a poor Mental Health and some of them said it themselves.
To many, Mental Health is simply a cop out; an attempt to be excused from bearing the weight of a legitimate responsibility. Such people refuse to empathise and give Grace to those who may genuinely be going through a hard time.
“Why couldn’t you turn in your Presentation before the deadline?”
“I needed some time to sort out my mental health.”
“Ooh really? I truly hope your newly found mental stability pays your bills… you’re fired!”
Others seem to be overly sensitive and subservient to any mental health related situation. To them, mental health is like that extremely fragile baby, whose desires you must fulfil or you risk a serious tantrum.
“Why couldn’t you turn in your Presentation before the deadline?”
“I needed some time to sort out my mental health. “
“Ooh woow, I’m so sorry darling! Do you need some time off? I could approve a 6 month paid leave with vacation in Paris, just so you can cool off. You get to return only when you feel 100%… is that alright? Come give me a hug!”
But what’s the balanced lens through which a Christian should see and address Mental Health related issues.
First, I’d like to say that this is by no means exhaustive, but in this resource, I hope to share with you two things;
1. The subconscious algorithm that is operational in most people who suffer from mental health related conditions. This unidentified but devastatingly effective syndrome gnaws away its victims and makes them extremely vulnerable to life and its unpredictability.
2. The Almighty Formula that stabilises emotions, empowers convictions and causes us to triumph over life literally as Masters over it.
Truth is, Mental Health is not a buzz word for no reason. People genuinely suffer from debilitating Mental Health conditions; where they are constantly living under the pressure of a huge Mental Mountain that they just can’t seem to get rid of. The more they attempt to get rid of it; the more they get to focus on it; and the more they focus on it, the bigger it becomes.
This cycle often continues until such people completely lose the desire to stay alive. This also explains the suicide stats!
But there is a syndrome at work here. One that is engineered by a sinister formula, designed from hell to keep people under the bondage of the devil;
Your Performance + Other People’s Opinions = Your Self Worth
This equation is one of the worst inventions of the kingdom of darkness, and with it, the enemy has ruled and governed the souls of many captives.
This is the real problem folks.
With this type of equation running the software of many souls, there is no way they could escape the reality of a constantly deteriorating Mental Health.
The reason why it has become even more prevalent in our generation is because there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of applications, platforms and microblogging sites whose primary objective is to allow people showcase their “Performance” and share their “Opinions” with the world. On these platforms, you get to find so many people “Outperforming” your own little reality as well as subject you to standards that are fuelled by their unstable “Opinions”.
Many people do not even know this is the real cause of their Mental Health Struggles. Anytime you allow your performance and the opinions of men to determine your self worth, you are inevitably setting yourself up for a very unstable and deteriorating Mental And Emotional Health.
“The fear of man bringeth a snare: But whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” — Proverbs 29:25 KJV
“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To depart from the snares of death.” —
Proverbs 14:27 KJV
That equation I shared with you can be summed up in this phrase; The Fear of Man. The Fear of Man is the desperate desire to please Man at all cost. The Bible says it brings a snare. But that the Fear of God helps us depart from the snares of death. The Fear of God is the antidote to the Fear of Man.
When you have the Fear of Man, you will always seek to perform well enough, so that men or a man can appraise you as “good” enough. “Las las”, everyone is looking for a “Father” in the world, one whose words would define their Worth, Value and Reality. But is the world really up to that task?
Can other people (who themselves are on a journey to define themselves) actually be our benchmark for defining our own intrinsic value? Something as unstable as the opinion of men cannot be seen a standard of measurement; same way metrics for measurement don’t change, else they wouldn’t be useful in measuring things. A Foot will always be 12 inch long! It won’t change, that’s why it can be relied on as a scale of measurement.
The Fear of Man at its “finest”, works like a vicious cycle.
You attempt to keep your performance levels very high, so that people can “rate” you, then when they rate you, you feel good about yourself. Only that because you’re human and are sometimes susceptible to being inconsistent, your performance drops, then your “rating” from other people reduces; and because your rating has dropped, you don’t feel too good about yourself; and because you don’t feel too good about yourself, your performance drops even further and so goes your rating and your self-worth continue to plummet until…
Then, you become desperate enough to get your “rep” back. So you take to “enhancers” that boost your performance, awareness and heighten your “creativity” whilst numbing your true feelings and sobriety.
This one equation is massive in its contribution to the following vices in our society;
Drug Abuse, Prostitution, Internet Fraud, Corruption, Bad Marriage, Hasty Marriage, Gossip, Body Shaming, Infidelity, Debauchery, Bang Wagon tendencies, Superstitions, Discrimination, Tribalism, Dogmatism, Nepotism, Rape, Short cuts, Promiscuity, Murder, Strife, Envy, Jealousy, Suicide… among many many other things.
People do all these hideous things because they are trying to outperform others and live up to an expectation set up by people whose goal post continues to shift.
I cannot get into the second Formula today and I know 7 days is a long time to wait for it, but I’ll have to stop here.
I encourage you think and ponder on some of the things I shared here. How have you been giving up your Mental Health Equity to the fickle opinions of men about your performance and thereby sacrificing your Emotional Stability? Your considerations will be crucial in the next installment.
Till we meet again, I urge you to Stop Sharing the Equity of Your Mental Health… own it 100%!
Have a productive week ahead.
Dami Oguntunde
@damioguntunde