From Far and Beyond of Nowhere

“…Why don’t you come for my school events like my friends dad and mum?...”   “…My parents can’t afford the same things as what my friends have...”   “…I don’t know if I’m being a good parent, I made mistake, my child isn’t normal…”   “…We aren’t good together, let’s keep things together for the children…”   “…It’s my job, I don’t have all the time for our marriage, I’m the man, I have to earn money for us…”   “…Why did he leave? I’m just one lady, how will I cope with these children…?”   Do some of these phrases sound familiar to you or some of the family stories you have read? If they have, we see you and we acknowledge that things within families do not always go the way we want. At times, we want to be the perfect husband, father, mother, wife, child or even excellent family member that everyone looks up to. However, they are enough challenges thrown our way that often conflict our thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Sometime...

  It’s been a good couple of days for you. Everyone and everything, is blending in, at the right time and right place. Most of your friends and family, have been chanting about you in the best way possible and have been creating good memories with you.   Until.   You have been absent at school or work for good amount of time. Cancelled all or most, invitations with friends and family to go out. Now, no one seems to know what is going on with you. Your life seems to have been blow away like ashes after a fire. You begin having some thoughts and emotions you may have not encountered before. As usual, your friends and family are there for you and ask that you go to see a doctor. After a proper review, the diagnosis, strikes you like lightning to the ground. You have a mental illness. Whoever is around you is confused and may be in denial. For a moment, you wonder who else doesn’t need to know. Will your friends still accept you? Ignore family members? Move away from your cur...

  If you could jump into someone’s mind, and have the ability to see or experience, the thoughts and emotions that they have, what would you do?   Better yet, what if someone could jump into your mind and see or experience, some of the thoughts and emotions you have, would you let them?   Now, let’s pause for a moment and imagine how this conversation between the two of you would go, after all you have discovered.   Is it your cup of tea? Or would you need a specific venue for this?   In our world today, mental health has gained quite some attention and similarly, the things that affect it and improve it. In this thin line of knowing what works and what doesn’t in attempts to manage or work with our mental health and mental health conditions, they have been ways in which information regarding mental health conditions have been blurred and probably given a face that is not of its own. This could be due to certain stereotypes, norms and traditions that are entrenc...