Communication: Part 2 Follow-up

In last week’s post I wrote about not hiding the fact that we have mental health issues. I mentioned how helpful it can be to open up to someone else and be honest about something you’re struggling with. I also mentioned that opening up doesn’t only help you but can have a great impact on the person you share with. You may even inspire him or her to open up to you or someone else about their own struggles.

While it’s incredibly helpful to open up to just one person, can you imagine opening up to a large group of people all at once? What if you were in front of 35,000 people? Could you be open about mental health struggles that you have? How many of those people do you think you might inspire to open up to someone else about their own struggles? Well, imagine my surprise when this happened last weekend!

My children like the music of Imagine Dragons. They play their songs and sing along to them all the time in the house. So imagine how jealous they were when my husband and I went to a live Imagine Dragons concert last weekend!

It was actually a really great concert! The band put on a really good show, full of lights, confetti, giant bouncing balloons, fireworks, and of course the music.

Right before one of their songs, Dan Reynolds, the lead singer for the group, spoke to the crowd and said some things about mental health that impressed me. He was actually very open about it. Here are a few highlights from his comments:

• He mentioned that one of the best things he's ever done for himself was to see a therapist.
• He said he put it off for so many years because he thought it would be admitting to himself that he was broken in his mind.
• "I thought I could power through anything, but I was wrong."
• “It does not make you broken, it does not make you weak to see a therapist. It is incredibly wise.”
• “We need each other; we need to stay with each other; we need to stay in this [life] together.”
• “Your life is always worth living!”

After hearing his comments, I paid more attention to the lyrics of their songs and began to realize how many of the lyrics are really about mental health challenges! I was really grateful for his candor. For someone in the spotlight, being vulnerable can be extremely frightening. It opens you up to criticism, mockery, and potentially a loss of fans, who are a celebrity’s livelihood.

But also imagine how many people he inspired to open up about their own struggles! In my mind I can just picture other people saying, “If he can open up about this at his concert in front of 35,000 people, I can be brave enough to open up to one person!”

I agree with what he said. Talking to someone does not make you weak! Life is worth living. Life is worth living well! Be brave and open up about your challenges so you can get back to living life the way you want to live it.

How are you going be brave about your own mental health challenges today?

Joy is possible.

Love ❤️, Jen

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