Mindfulness For the Wandering Mind

CHAPTER THREEBreaking the Mental Health Stigma

Overview

More than ever before, highly successful and accomplished individuals are starting to speak up about their mental health struggles. This is helping others to start talking about their own challenges with their mental and emotional well‐being. For too long, everyone has been embarrassed to talk about feeling depressed and anxious. However, we are slowly beginning to realize that just as the body can experience ups and downs in health, so can the mind. Not being able to openly discuss and address mental health challenges and keeping our feelings bottled up only makes things worse. Everything in life has its ups and downs and highs and lows and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Taking care of our physical body but not being attentive to the needs of our mind is equivalent to taking our car to the car wash but never looking under the hood to address the needs of the engine.

People who struggle with mental illness are often marginalized and made to look weak and incapable. However, in recent years, some of the most athletic and recognized people on the planet have begun opening up about their personal struggles with depression.

Michael Phelps

With a total of 28 medals, of which 23 are gold, Michael Phelps is considered to be the most decorated Olympian of all time. In June 2016, he became the first‐ever American swimmer ...