Let’s cheers to mental health!
The struggle bus. Been on it lately? A short while ago a work friend confided in me that she was struggling—with the demands of being a mom balanced with the demands of her role, life was feeling heavy. During my morning commute one day after we chatted, I called her, a devout Swiftie, with the Taylor Swift XM radio blasting in the background and sang to her—in my very awful singing voice. I asked, after my performance, “How are you?” In response, she laughed and said, “Better now!” That morning I was feeling pretty rotten too and uplifting her uplifted me.
The lovely people I work with remind me every day how even the smallest act, like making eye contact with people you see in the morning and nodding a hello (or singing poorly to a favorite song), can make someone’s day.
Since 1949, May has been designated as Mental Health Awareness Month with an aim, in part, to reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Through acts both big and small, we all have the power to improve our mental health, and that of others.
In 2019, a few leaders from Ent Credit Union met with leaders from Children’s Hospital Colorado. During that meeting we learned more about the startling reality pertaining to the suicide rate of kiddos in Colorado. This grave need for pediatric mental health struck us deeply. When we walked away from that conversation, we recognized two things: (1) mental health is a hard topic to broach and (2) we want in. We made a multi-year commitment at the time of over $1 million to Children’s Hospital and have not looked back. We continue to partner with the Foundation to create impact in the realm of pediatric mental health and our support to date is in excess of $2 million. We have learned since we were the first organization to be willing to promote this topic and support mental health so openly.
In my prior CUInsight article, related to positivity I quoted, “life is two sided; you choose” and closed with this: the science of positivity is real and rooted in self-care and well-being. So, I ask with an open heart, what you are doing for your mental health? If we aren’t taking care of ourselves, it is hard to recognize when others may need us and it’s darn hard to help. This isn’t just true for the people that we work with every day. This is true for the people that we live with. My free advice during mental health month—do what you need to take care of you. And, when you have a chance to uplift someone, take it. It will lift you up too.
