Are You Surviving or Thriving?

The report found that just 13% of people report living with high levels of good mental health. 

Just imagine if that figure related to our physical health – just imagine if only 13% of people reported living with good physical health? 

What a shocking statistic that would be.

But should this statistic about our mental health be any less shocking?  Can we really thrive as an individual or a nation with such poor mental health?

What is poor mental health?

People tend to think of people with mental health issues as those on medication to deal with clinical depression, anxiety disorders, bi-polar disorder, personality disorders, eating disorders, or even schizophrenia.  These are all very serious conditions that affect many people but they are at the extreme end of the scale.

More commonly, people tend to experience mental health problems as stress and anxiety, depression, insomnia, low mood, low concentration, low motivation, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Post Natal Depression, phobias, panic attacks, PTSD, low self esteem and low confidence.  A far wider range of symptoms that many people put up with without really considering them a mental health issue.

What is the impact of poor mental health?

Last year the Mental Health Taskforce reported that mental health problems represent the largest single cause of disability in the UK. The cost to the economy is estimated at £105 billion a year – roughly the cost of the entire NHS.

Last year 9.9 million working days were lost to stress related issues alone with a huge impact on businesses.  But staff don’t have to be off sick for stress to impact their performance because stress leads to poor concentration, low motivation and low confidence.

And the impact on us as individuals is that life often ends up being a constant battle to survive each day.  We end up surviving and not thriving.

What is the difference between surviving and thriving? 

The MHF report undertaken in March 2017 outlines thriving as “the capacity of each of us to feel, think and act in ways that enhances our ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face.” Thriving isn’t just the absence of a mental health problem, it’s about taking it one step further and working towards fulfilling our true potential.

But can we thrive in such stressful times?

We seem to be dealing with increasing levels of pressure and expectation in our daily lives and life has a habit of throwing just one thing too many at us leading to that overwhelming feeling of “how on earth am I going to cope?”.  Is it really possible for us as individuals to change all of that external pressure so that we can truly thrive?

Of course not, we can’t change what goes on around us. After all, so much of what impacts on our lives is out of our control.  But we can increase our ability to cope, we can increase our resilience to stressful situations so that they don’t lead to mental health issues.

How can I increase my resilience and really start to thrive?

When we are suffering from stress, anxiety, depression or any other mental health issue it can feel overwhelming.  The idea of overcoming the problem can seem like a massive mountain to climb.  But the good news is that many of the things that increase our mental wellbeing are simple and easy to do.  The key activities highlighted in the MHF report were spending time with family and friends, spending time on hobbies, going out for a walk, making plans, setting goals and getting a good night’s sleep.  Simple activities that make a huge impact on our mental wellbeing.

But sometimes we can’t do this by ourselves, sometimes we need help, and this is where hypnotherapy comes in.  At Inspired to Change we help people to understand what is going on in their brain and why they are feeling the way they do, an understanding that gives back a feeling of control.  We help them to focus on the small steps they can take to start that journey from surviving to thriving and we help to build their resilience so that they can deal and cope with the day to day stresses of our modern lives.

Read the story of one of our clients journey from surviving to thriving here.

Read our Tops Tips to Thriving here.

If you aren’t thriving maybe it’s time to book your FREE initial consultation with your local Inspired to Change hypnotherapist. Inspired to Change Hypnotherapists are based across the UK in Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Devon, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Somerset.

Inspired to Change Hypnotherapists are all recognised by the National Council for Hypnotherapy, the UK’s leading not-for-profit hypnotherapy professional association.

To find out how you can train as a solution focused hypnotherapist click here for our hypnotherapy school information