A few days back, I was feeling very low. I was tired, so I decided to sleep for a few hours. When my mom arrived from work, she checked my forehead to see if I had a fever. I did not have Fever. I was just not able to focus on my studies, getting so irritated with my brother for playing songs. Usually, I love playing songs, and most of the time, I am the one to put them on loud volume, dance with the rhythm. But that day was not one of those days. I slept throughout the day.  I did not eat dinner. The next day was a very fine day, though. I was able to concentrate on my studies, do my work, and sing along with Arijit Singh. Now, you must be thinking why am I writing this, right? Not because I want to share it with you, no offense. But to tell you all that it is perfectly fine if you choose to sleep one day, not focus on your work, or get irritated by your favorite things. 

To start with, I think the definition of mental health can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, mental health according to society or the majority of people is “when people are unstable and need medical treatment to function normally” This normal is based on societal norms or what society believes in.

On the other hand, mental health, defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, of coping with the normal stresses of life, of working productively and fruitfully, and of being able to contribute to his or her community (-Wikipedia)

In simple words, mental health is all about our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act.

I think mental health can be divided into two strands. One means your psychology is affected, including how you think, and second, your behavior is affected, meaning how you react or work.

Let's take me as an example. If we look at the societal definition and my example, I would say my mother reacted in a societal way. She thought I had a fever, even though there could be other factors affecting the way she was thinking, such as me sleeping when I usually don’t. Even you people would say I am going crazy if I get irritated at songs. Not just songs per se, but anything. Food, Homework, or even the internet. You never know! 

Whereas, if we look from W.H.O.'s definition and my example, I would say I was just having a single episode of depression. Depression because if we look at the meaning of the term, it is when we feel excessive sorrow about something from the past, which causes us to not do anything. It stops us from functioning normally. (Here, this normal differs from person to person)

When we are using these mental health-related terms, make sure you are aware of what it exactly means, because I think when we normalize these serious words, we tend to use them in our day-to-day life often, and they lose their meaning or lose their value. Just to give an example, when I was feeling tired and chose to sleep, It’s not depression. I can not say I am going through depression, because I am feeling tired and feel like not doing anything. It was just an episode or symptom. If we normalize it too much, the actual people who are going through this might feel that it is way too normal and don’t need the treatment. They will not sense the seriousness of this mental health. And this is the first stereotype people have. They say we should normalize it, talk about it often, use these terms, but people should also know that these terms are serious and hold their importance. Therefore, use it wisely.

Additionally, people also think that only people who are mentally ill can seek help from mental health professionals. This is not true guys. We all know it’s not true. Every person who exists needs someone who can hear them out and the mental health professionals or doctors or psychologists are people who we can contact. It’s not like, if a person suffering from psychological disorders only can contact these professionals, even people who are not suffering from such serious disorders can contact professionals. We, ourselves are exposed to counselors who help us go through from very simplest situations too complicated ones. Somewhere, I also feel we can help each other by sharing how we feel with someone whom we trust. Share your sorrows, problems, why are you happy? This will give us relief or make our brain relieved from the emotional stress we all go through.

As we know our brain works 24/7, even when we are sleeping, so it's okay if it gives you a few tantrums. It’s okay if you are not okay.