Recently, my wife, Charity, and I visited our family physician for a medical check-up. We are at the age that these annual check-ups are becoming more critical. Our blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen sats, and temperature were checked along with an EKG and blood work. You know, the usual stuff.
We did not go to the doctor because we felt sick. Instead, we went to the doctor because we wanted to stay physically well as long as possible.
Discussing physical health is easy, normal, and expected. Most of us can carry a normal and comfortable conversation about most of our physical health, ailments, and illnesses.
But what if we decided to discuss mental health?
Most of the time, when I (Mike) mention that I am researching mental health among Christ-followers, I get a face. It is the face that you see when someone bites into a lemon. And, then, the typical conversation becomes awkward and becomes a whisper.
Most of the time, mental illness is mentioned in the same breath as mental health. “Well, I have an aunt that battled depression for years, and she was a Christian.” The problem is that these are not the same conversations.
Remember, I did not go to the doctor to get a physical check-up because I was sick. I went so that my wife and I could stay physically healthy. So when I talk about mental health, I am thinking about that annual check-up to make sure we are flourishing and vibrant mentally to face the difficulties and rigors of life.
To be clear, there was a time that I did not know how to talk about mental health. Unless you were in behavioral science circles, mental health was not discussed in positive ways. Like most folks, I avoided conversations about mental health. Most of the time it was because I did not understand it, and I thought these types of conversations were too personal.
Times have changed, and mental health conversations have become more mainstream. Mental health is discussed way more frequently outside of the church than inside. The problem is that I believe that the church has the answer to maintaining robust mental health because we follow Jesus Christ; however, research proves that we, as Christ-followers, do not discuss this topic very often.
Here are three reasons why talking about mental health is important as Christ-followers:
1. Talking about mental health may keep us mentally healthy longer.
Just like we have physical check-ups, exercise, eat right, and rest well, we need mental health check-ups and wellness goals as well. Talking about mental health will let us know if we are striving for health or not.
Physically, we can be fatigued, sore, injured, or ill. The same can happen to us mentally. These things are important to discuss because…
2. What we don’t know can hurt us.
Think about our physical check-up. Imagine if we did not have an EKG and our heart was a little out of rhythm, signifying an issue with our heart. What if that issue was not captured? What could happen? Yes, what we don’t know can hurt us!
This is true with mental health as well. Are you tired, stressed, sad, afraid, overwhelmed, worried, nervous, and unfocused? These issues are mental health issues. Yes, what we don’t know can hurt us. But, it can impact others as well.
3. Our ministry to others can suffer.
Our mental health, or unhealth, can impact others. Our lives do not happen in isolation. Typically, we live life around other people. Imagine living life around others when you seem always to have something on your mind, scattered, distant, anxious, sad, or bewildered. Contrast that with living life around others when you are mentally flourishing, sharp, present, optimistic, and excited?
Yes, we need to talk about mental health to be our best selves in Christ around others. Imagine the difference!
If you need someone to talk to, reach out to us at Six2 Ministries. Become active in our Facebook group and be a part of our ministry family that receives periodic emails.
Let’s normalize the mental health conversation. It is so important as Christ-followers!
Philippians 4:8 reads, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV). Yes, let’s keep the conversation going.
