Covid and beyond
We talk a lot these days about mental health, wellbeing, and happiness. And given the pressures of Covid this year, that’s hardly surprising. They were already high on our list of priorities long before 2020, but if ever there was a time to embrace them, surely it’s now!
Starting point number one
There are two starting points we could take. One begins with the problem – what’s wrong? For example, as soon as we hear the phrase “mental health”, most of us think not of health but of ill-health. It seems to tip us straight into fear and anxiety, and a worrying sense of not being in control.
What that looks like
So the starting point in our culture tends to be negative one – a deficit perspective, if you like. As with many other arenas, we ask what is wrong, in order to “fix” it. We are a society of fixers. There’s nothing wrong with this approach; it has served us well over the past century or two, in economics, science, medicine or politics. But it works best when we are dealing with the material realm. Move towards less material things, such as mental and emotional health, relationships, community or the apparently intangible realm of the spirit, and our “fix-it” approach begins to break down.
Another possibility
Which is where the second starting point comes into its own. Rather than beginning with the problem, the deficit, it starts with assets – or better still, the whole of life, not just its parts. What does a well-lived life look like? What goes towards fostering it? Is it just a matter of eradicating the problems, or do we need to look elsewhere?
For me, the starting point is to see our lives as whole entities, where our relationships impact our physical health, our character undergirds our behaviour and our core commitments determine our life direction. That comes in at a much deeper point than tackling more immediate, surface matters, important as they are.
Both are vital, but…
Both perspectives, both starting points are vital. They are not mutually exclusive. We need to tackle the deficits, the problems. But unless we have a vision for what a well-lived life looks like, we will always fall short. It’s interesting that the World Health Organisation’s definition of health, first adopted in 1948, is as relevant today as it was then: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Health – or wellbeing – is not produced simply by removing disease (though that is vital). It goes far beyond that. But understanding and promoting what that “far beyond” actually is….well, that is where our second starting point, wholistic wellbeing, begins.
