We All Have Mental Health

[Music] you can't tell how someone feels just by looking at them or what they share online to the outside world our lives may look perfect even if in reality they aren't [Music] i'm always worrying about doing well at school and with the end of year test coming up i'm not sure how much longer i can cope my thoughts swarm around my head sometimes keeping me up all night some days it's just all too much and i feel like i'm lost in space when i did badly on one of my tests i just about kept it

together until i got home then i broke down crying in front of my mum she listened for a bit and then she told me that just like physical health we all have mental health it's our feelings our thinking our emotions and our moods she then said that feeling down angry and stressed is a normal part of life just like it's normal to feel happy confident and carefree sometimes we all have positive and negative emotions that come and go based on what's happening around us these are everyday feelings good mental health means experiencing negative emotions it's

not always about being happy mum can relate to the feelings of stress so when mom suggested i take a break from everything and do something i enjoy i actually took her advice so i made myself a hot chocolate snuggled up in a duvet and watched a film and you know what afterwards i felt so much better mom should take her own advice most of us only ever share the good things we don't like to share how we really feel [Music] every morning when i wake up negative thoughts stream through my head getting out of bed

and pretending i'm okay takes all the energy i have as the day goes on the negative thoughts turn from a stream into a river the water rushes through my head so loudly it's hard to concentrate in lessons and some days it's so bad it feels like a waterfall that's trying to pull me over the edge everything is so overwhelming i didn't think my friends would understand if i told them how down i was feeling but when sasha opened up to me about how stressed she was feeling i told her i wasn't sure how to bring

up how i'd been feeling so i started by saying that i didn't feel like myself just her listening made me feel like she understood [Music] she told me some things that had helped her so i tried them too but it didn't make much of a difference even when i tried to be around my friends i felt alone the things i used to enjoy weren't fun anymore i was really worried about andre and not sure what to do he was quiet and wasn't hanging out with us like he used to so i asked our head of

year for some advice he suggested i get andre to speak to him since his negative feelings weren't going away i didn't want to speak to ahead of year but i also didn't want to keep feeling so down so i went he said that sometimes we have overwhelming feelings that can be more intense than our everyday feelings these feelings hang around for a long time and change the way we feel think and behave they can stop us doing what we want to in life that's what i was going through he also said that if we're physically

unwell we let people know we ask for help it should be no different with mental health sometimes our overwhelming feelings are brought on because of things in our life sometimes they happen for no reason at all after hearing this i felt much less alone and it felt good to talk scientists have found exercise can help when you're feeling low so ahead of year encouraged me to sign up to the school football club which sasha was already in i still have days when the river is there but now i'm beginning to understand my mental health i'm

learning how to cope our head of year reminded me that my friends family teachers and lots of others at school are there to help just as much as he is i had no idea the people around me could be so understanding and while it's not always easy to talk about my mental health the person i'm talking to might be able to help if you don't feel like talking that's fine you could try writing sports reading art music playing with your pet whatever makes you feel better if you're the person someone talks to when they're struggling

just listen with no pressure or judgements you don't have to have the answer if you feel unsure about anything you can speak to a trusted adult talking about mental health doesn't have to be difficult after all it's something we all have [Music] you