Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with anxiety. It was one of the lowest points in my life and I experienced firsthand how our minds have the capability of tilting the health scale of our physical bodies positively or negatively. A turning point for me was knowing that mental health is equally (if not more) as important as physical health.
Yesterday night, I stumbled on an Instagram post of a 26-year-old beautiful lady who shared her experience with chronic depression. She disclosed that in April of this year, she slit her wrist in an attempt to commit suicide. Reading her story left a burdened heaviness in my heart because I’ve noticed that mental health issue has increasingly become a cause of worry.
Why are young people going through these problems?
I asked my friend who is a medical doctor the above question and his response was quite logical; he summed it up to lifestyle – social media influenced lifestyle. The world is currently a village of illusion were people pose to be a certain way they are not which in turn unknowingly creates a sense of inadequacy to unsuspecting followers.
Understanding that nobody is perfect is the first step to rid ourselves of this mental cage that aims for perfection. Also, more social media influencers need to be transparent and show that their lives mirror the rest of everyone’s lives filled with great days and not so great days.
This, however, makes me wonder, is social media doing more harm than good?