Supporting One Another

Learning to deal with difficult emotions

There are often days when I can’t be bothered to do anything at all. On one of these days, I managed to draw a visual representation of this feeling in cat form. That was the birth of Greg. He represents something I found myself doing a lot at a time I was struggling with my mental health. It’s frustrating when you ask a friend if they want to join a fun event, activity or general opportunity to socialise and the response is always an excuse not to, or plainly: “I can’t be bothered.” This can be especially hard when it’s a wellintentioned attempt to try and encourage that person, who you know is struggling to go out into the world and socialise. It can come across as rudeness and/ or laziness from them, but trying to do anything at all - let alone socialising - is overwhelming to someone who is struggling. At the same time, I don’t think wanting to do nothing always means you’re sad. It can be undervalued as a time to recharge and procrastinate. Whilst doing nothing (literally absolutely nothing, just staring into space,) I’ve felt these have often been the times the best ideas pop into my head.

It feels like there’s a popular rhetoric that you should say yes to everything that comes your way; see everything as an opportunity. But we also know that if you are depressed or anxious, this can feel impossible.

We’re all well-versed in this topic now - or better-versed, at least - but it’s my intention with this book to get the message across to young readers that it’s ok to feel sad and it’s ok to feel like all you can do is nothing. It’s important to realise that, whether you notice it in you or in someone else. It’s also important to talk, listen and support those closest to you; you have to share how you feel and people need to check in. Communicating this can feel difficult, so if you recognise that someone is feeling sad, initiating the conversation and showing they have support around them can really help.

JACK KURLAND Author and Illustrator www.instagram.com/jackkurland