"Just be positive!"

In the last week or so I have felt like absolute trash 95% of the time. I made a post on Instagram with a quote from one of my favourite songwriters, Daniel Johnston. The lyrics are "Its so tough just be alive, when I feel like the living dead"

Shortly after posting I received a comment from a random page stating "Well then stay positive there is no time for negativity bro"

For quite some time I was very tempted to respond with a sarcastic comment, "Oh yeah! Why hadn't I thought of that!!"

I figured they probably hadn't actually read into the context of the post and decided to explain politely as possible.

A few minutes after I posted my response the original poster deleted their comment. I will never know if this was because of embarrassment of boneheadedness.

I figured I would share this because, sadly, it is not uncommon for mental health issues to be misunderstood or even dismissed entirely. I was taking part in some training with Time to Change shortly after I got this comment and mentioned it to the group. Nobody seemed all that surprised. Sadly there are still a lot of people who simply don't believe that mental health issues are real.

The goal of Time to Change is to break the stigma and discrimination around mental health and they have done a lot over the last 13 years, there is still a long way to go and I am excited to be part of that.

The more people talk about there own issues or are willing to take some time to learn about others the quicker we can make stop mental health being a taboo.

Check out Time for Change here: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/

Don't forget that this Saturday is World Mental Health Day and the East Essex hub of TTC are putting on a Virtual festival. I will performing for this along with many of my fellow champions.

Sign up here for free: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-essex-time-to-change-wmhdlive-tickets-123224378433