Article by Sky Gommeren

Life’s Great Challenge

The Importance of Mental Health

What is Mental Health?

Mental Health - A person’s condition with regard to their pshychological and emotional well being.

Why is it so important?

Mental health is just as important as one’s physical health. It is impossible to live a life without mental health problems, as everyone must go through experiences they would rather not go through.

Anxiety and deppression are the most common problems of pour mental health, and not treating them correctly can lead to serious consequences.

Everyone has and will experience mental health issues throughout their life. Bad things are inevitable in life, such as the loss of loved ones, or even the unexpected things. It is important to persevere situations that deteriote one’s mental health, and opening up to others

Ms Alvarado In spring of 2020, Ms Alvarado found out she had breast cancer. She had already been a teacher for a number of years when school was being brought into an olnine enviroment during the COVID 19 lockdown. During her treatment, Ms Alvarado’s physical health was being negatively affected, due to changes in hormone levels and the freezing of her eggs. The changes left her emotionally unstable.

She often had points in time where the stress and anxiety was thrust upon her by not only her cancer treatment, but also by being a teacher. Ms Alvarado closed herself off from those close to her, not wanting to put a burden on them. Instead, she had a therapist she could talk to.

After she was succesfully treated from breast cancer, she realized how detrimental talking to others was to maintaining a good mental hygiene. Learning from her experience, Ms Alvarado now tries to support others whenever she can, whether they be friends, family or students. Teaching others healthy ways to deal with their problems.

Tips from Ms Alvarado For Ms Alvarado, the most important thing to do when going through hard times is checking in with yourself to make sure you are really ok. And when you need help, do not be afraid to talk to those around you. Keeping things to yourself is not a good habit.

Another important thing is to make sure that Social Media doesn’t make you feel bad about yourself, and if it starts to, delete it. Getting rid of the sources of mental health problems is good for yourself, and it is good to avoid things that will hurt you.

Hard times are inevitable. You will feel sad, mad, or stressed out at different points in your life, but it is ok. Nobody lives a perfect life, and the hard times will pass. You just need to learn how to deal with them in a healthy way.

About the Author Sky Gommeren

Sky is a junior at Los Altos Highschool’s Freestyle Academy. Sky is an inspiring film maker and story teller currently attending the Freestyle Academy Film class. He is writing a story that he wants to make into a TV show, and hopes to continue to develop his skills throughout his time at Freestyle, as well as at college.