Let us face mental health challenges
Weekly Salutation
Greetings to you my leader, I hope I find you well, alive, and thriving. Hopefully, you had a good weekend and you are aspiring for a great new week. I truly hope this will be your best week ever.
Transformation
I have been away for a while, but guess what? I am back from Zimbabwe and saw a lot of growth which blew my mind, but my biggest takeaway is the fact that indigenous people own at least 75% of the economy. They control the business empires and the means of production and that is true empowerment. New business opportunities are manifesting every day. Impressive is an understatement.
Back to the present. One of the most powerful things in our lives is our past and environment. We are predominantly defined by our environment more than we realize or imagine. Our lack or abundance has become a key definition of our behaviors. Our childhood traumas are a part of us such that they act as our mental roadblocks and strongholds. We are from the past, products of the past, and sadly live in the past. Our past is loaded with pain, hate, sorrow, and trauma. Yet it is what it is, our past.
Bondage
Sometimes if you grow in lack, even when you become prosperous, you are way too careful so that you don’t go back to poverty. You will actually be having money in your bank account and poverty in your heart. It is a bad place to be in. Yet at times, you become a spendthrift who lives to demonstrate that l am not that poor boy anymore. I have been a victim of this syndrome before, there is a time I went shoe shopping and filled the whole boot with shoes. So I have been there. The pain of the past and the scars thereof are skin-deep. I have seen prosperous people who grew up in poverty run away from their siblings because they associate them with poverty. The moment they meet rich people, they literally worship them and pump some money into their loaded lives. The sad truth is that they will be very arrogant to their siblings but render worship to the high and mighty people. The truth is that they are simply big kids trapped in adult bodies. They worship people and things although they claim to worship God. They actually have hidden mental issues. The pain of trauma bottled for years can kill and has killed a lot of people.
Abnormalities
A lot of people are not aware of their hidden traumas and will be shocked to meet a psychologist, Therapist, or other Human Behavior expert. They will be diagnosed with challenges they never imagined were housed in their souls. The African mindset has taught us to ignore things and consider pain and trauma a part of life, we should treat them as normal. We die so many times, in fact, we die daily and we never voice a word. We think that pain is supposed to be okay. We were taught that abnormal is actually normal. We hoard pain for generations until we suddenly drop dead. People will come and wonder what killed us. We have been taught to pride in adversity and how we are resilient. How about thinking this way, was it even necessary that we suffer all the trauma and the pain? We even showcase how strong we are by the level of pain we carry inside us.
Limitations
It is important to seek closure over such matters because it may haunt even our children without us noticing it. It’s about time we deal with our mental health issues. We need total freedom in our lives.
Some among us grew up under terrible hardship and believe that should be the path for our children so that they are tough. That is wrong my leader, dispensations are different and dynamics are different as generations are different. Let us have emotional intelligence to notice that and be wise in our approach.
May we never become the reasons our generation fails to excel. May we never be the limiting factor for our children to achieve their next level? A word to the wise is always enough. Christ remains the ultimate leader and role model. Follow Him and many will follow you. May the leader in you rise to conquer as you think about these things. What is your legacy?