Mental Health

Why is our

What is it and how can it affect us?

Not only does our health impact how we live, but it impacts others around us as well. It includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and affects how we think, feel, and act.

As a student, I believe we struggle heavily with mental health, especially now, it affects the way we perform in our classes in a negative way. Personally, I have lacked so much motivation since the pandemic happened back in March of 2020. Art used to be such a go-to class that makes me feel happy and calm, but as I am forced to do all these assignments in my room the feeling just slowly went away. Most days, I can barely get up in the morning and I know other people feel the same way. I also noticed that I started having mental breakdowns recently. For me, it is a hard thing to wrap my head around because I've never had to struggle with this until now and I don't know how to make myself better. I've tried to communicate with my friends more through text
or facetime trying to reduce feeling alone but it has not helped at all. This is what mental health can look like. It does not
have to be a serious illness, but it can be a problem like this that can make us feel like we're not in control of ourselves.

important?

Many people deal with situations differently. During the lockdown situation, there are those who do not cooperate, and others are forced to deal with their consequences. Instead of getting back to normal, we have to continue isolating ourselves from the world. I enjoyed it during the first couple of months, but then I soon started to realize the importance of socializing and just being around people in general. I believe the role of the pandemic in today's world was very significant. It has made us much more appreciative of those around us, and be more aware of our environment and health.

10

Things

You Can Do

To

Boost

Your

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"Thinking isn't necessarily the solution to our problems, thinking is often the cause, especially when we get stuck in a pattern of overthinking. Overthinking leads to psychological stress and according to the World Health Organization, stress is a global health epidemic."

What I plan to research

In addition, I would like to explore how our health can be heavily influenced by social media by listening to people's stories, watching videos and gathering my own experiences throughout the semester. As we know, social media is such a powerful outlet where lives can be changed for the good or the bad, but for the younger generation like ourselves, it has affected has in such a negative way.

Documentary

Social Media

ART

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944, Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City, Mexico.

From the website, "writingfromhere.ca," I came across Hilary Hex and researched her work. A specific work of hers that I enjoyed looking through was called, "Project me." In this piece, she sat in front of a projector that displayed an image while she read her journal entries out loud, in chronological order.

I think what made me love this piece off the bat was due to the fact that I also keep a journal and related to when she said, "I can not see what others see in me." As individuals, we think so negatively about ourselves that we do not see our true potential and our self-worth while others do. Although they tell us exactly what it is that makes us incredible, it just comes out the other ear. It is hard to believe positive things that others say about us because we overthink about who we are and what we deserve. The fact that she stood in a projector illustrating how she cannot see herself is absolutely amazing. It is such a powerful message considering the emotional connection it carries. Art is about telling your story and making connections with people in all kinds of ways.