Welcome to Discovering Happiness....a response to the mental health crisis, especially amongst young adults. Discover the way out of inner turmoil and misery to find a meaningful life again. Life can be hard, but there is a way out, and we are here to show you how.
After doing this kind of work for some years, I was on the point of moving to the countryside and reducing my work load, when the Covid19 pandemic suddenly catapulted mental health issues to extreme levels. So much so, that it is said that mental health issues will be, or perhaps already are, the next pandemic.
The plight of young adults in particular, as a result of the pandemic, inspired me not slow down but to gear up and put my work out there in a bigger way than ever before. Suicide rates throughout the population have soared, and I have seen first-hand how much young adults are suffering. I knew that if I could help even one person pull back from suicide, and find meaning again in life, then my decision would have been worth it.
With age comes experience and the knowledge that “this too shall pass” and that sometimes it is just a case of gritting your teeth and holding on until things beyond your control change. Even so, it is never easy. Many older people have learnt to be resilient in the face of yet another upheaval to our way of life.
However, many more have found themselves too exhausted with the struggles of life to cope, especially without access to support networks and coping strategies, be it the gym, seeing friends, trips to the cinema, even walks in the country. With all this taken away, and the huge demands of home-schooling, over-stretched jobs, job loss, fear of the virus, caring for the sick, grief, it is no wonder that so many can’t cope with what is happening in the world now.
Young people…..they don’t have the benefit of experience. What they do have is all of the above and the added pressures of social media - to achieve, look perfect and “be” somebody. Without having been able to socialise, go out, be young and adventurous and enjoy life for the last year, let alone the unemployment, the financial devastation and the bleak outlook for getting on with their lives and careers that many young people face, it is hardly surprising that there is mental health crisis amongst the younger generations!
And yet, even when things seem to be at their darkest point, there is always one thing all of us can change…….our response to the things, events and people that we cannot change. When we change the way we look at things, we change our inner world, and how we experience the outer world improves.
Yes, times are hard, but there is a way out of the inner turmoil. There is a path out of misery, if you are willing to take it. It is an inner journey, and when you commit to it, when you let go of trying to change the world, and change yourself instead, when you find out who you really are and what is really important in and about life, then everything changes and there is a freedom and happiness, life has meaning again and purpose. Let me help you find that life and stop suffering.