What is mental health?

Too often when we have discussions about mental health, many of us tend to focus on deficits, challenges and difficulties. This does make some logical sense as the phrase was coined by the medical community. But, I would argue this model refers to severe emotional difficulties, leaving out a large portion of the population who may not present with actual clinical diagnoses.

My philosophy is that we should all embrace and welcome a definition of mental health similar to the perspective of how we view physical fitness. Like physical wellness, mental health is not only about challenges but it also about how well we can perform and emotionally maneuver throughout life.

Consider this, we don't think of people who have not run marathons as deficient do we? We don't normally consider them to be "unfit", right? However, they are able to perform extremely well in a given set of circumstances with proper training. Well, the same can be said for mental health.

Many of us come from communities where emotional health issues were overlooked, or as is most often, not explicitly addressed on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, sometimes that leaves us without the experience or "training" to adequately identify our feelings and then develop strategies to manage them and the world around us.I encourage you to consider this definition of mental health from the World Health Organization:

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

I like this definition because it encompasses a level of "fitness" of sorts. It relays the message pretty clearly that mental health is not only about those with the biggest challenges, but it also encompasses all of us who appear to live , love and productively contribute to our society. To me, that's a hopeful message that lets me know that all we need as a society is a little more "training".

How are you preparing to run the race that is your life?