When we are going through life, turning the pages in our stories, every person we meet is a character. That character adds shape to our story. When we think about our own mental health chapter in our stories, we need to not only think about ourselves, but all of those characters in our story.
Characterizing
As we focus on our health, we need to look at the people in our lives to determine their role. In my life story, I have people that are clearly in the supporting role and people that are in the story as more static roles. I have caregivers and some jesters filling out the roles in my story. And there is a reason I categorize each one this way. It is how I know they can be used to build my mental health.
Character roles
By looking at the people in my life and seeing I have some friends or family members that are more in the jester role, I know I can turn to them if I need a little “pick-me up” and a smile to make it through the day. What I won’t do, is try to turn to them for guidance in any issues that may come through. That is what the supporting and caregiver roles are for. The static role are for those that you know to be one direction in their thought process. Those are people I could go to if I needed something to be fixed.
Allowing myself to associate those in my life into my mental health, I can also see how my health affects them. When I have days or weeks of depression, those I work with and the family at home can sense the change in me. Those characters in my life, also see me as a character in their life. Can I be strong enough to fulfill my role as a caregiver, or support, or even a jester if they were to need it from me? If the answer is no, then I need to make some choices.
Parts of the Story
You wake up one day and for some reason you are sad. Do you know why? If not, do you know which character in your story life you can turn to? Emotions are complex in many ways and do not just affect us. They affect all around us. As in our storybook lives, people in our lives affect us.
What is my role?
Here is a thought, what role should you or could you play in someone’s story in which they don’t realize the affect their emotion has on you? You are around someone that is constantly depressed and sad, what role do you think you are strong enough to play in their life? This is with the understanding that they don’t fully realize the Influence their emotions play.
Strength
Many of us seem to have a decent handle on our emotions and hold on a strength in our lives that we are able to move page by page, day by day feeling at peace for most of it. Stress and strains that come and go are managed and we continue. However, there are too many of us that do not have the tight of a grip on our emotions and although the strength is there on good days, it is missing on the bad days.
It is not really all about you
When we start looking about to better ourselves, you need to realize that it really is not all about you. Yes, the priority focus is to get YOU healthier. But it is also those in your life and touch every corner of your existence that also need to be looked at. You want to be healthier? Then look to see if there are any “unsavory” characters in your life story you need to remove. Are there any supporting character roles you haven’t spoken to, or do you need to add one by way of professional help?
To the HEA
I have talked about characters and life stories in previous posts like “Emotionally Running High in Happiness”. Take the time to look at the people in your life and see what roles they play. Don’t forget to look at the role you play in their life. Because as in any book, we just want that HEA (happily ever after.)
With great warmth,
