You might think this analogy is a little drastic/melodramatic. And maybe it is – but w reason, purpose, & even some strategy, so that even more folks wake up.
You might say – c’mon, a lottery ticket rarely wins…whereas w our MH while we have some good & some bad days…&, while stress & trauma are cumulative, our MH is not THAT at risk where we have no other safety net other than luck!
Maybe not…maybe it’s not as risky as I am making it out to be, not to work on your MH proactively. BUT, 10 years ago you’d literally laugh & dismiss this post card as “way out there.” I would have!
We were sold for so long that our MH was a product of our genetics – some of us have “it” & are unlucky, & some of us don’t. Of course the “it” in MH for so long, was mental illness. The topic was binary. In many circles it still is binary. That’s slowly changing, but not fast enough.
If our MH can turn at any moment, is it so wrong to say – we are taking a huge risk if we don’t work on it proactively? We all live thru majorly stressful events. We ALL, despite what ACE scores may say, have lived thru traumatic events. And for certain we ALL have been in our own heads abt scenarios & events – “what if” questions, obsessions, etc.
All of the above means our MH turn at any moment. Science explains this well: we can get caught in a sympathetic response where we are on edge, anxious, angry, have a low mood, very little emotional energy available…& we can even slip into a freeze mode from there, where we shut down. Our literal day-to-day functioning can start to fail us.
I sadly learned this all to well. So…yeah, comparing reactivity to buying lotto tickets – maybe it’s a drastic example. But is it that far off? I am driven to ensure others don’t have to suffer the way I did…bc as an athlete & a sports exec, things all felt like they were going well…& I was loving what I was going, daily.
Just bc we enjoy our lives…just bc we wake up motivated, doesn’t mean we aren’t ALL susceptible to these MH declines. Don’t chance things by buying the lotto tickets. It’s work…but that insurance plan will be the best thing you ever “spent” on.