Mental Health Awareness Month

May is mental health awareness month and there has been a really big push in the media about how much help people need because we have all been in quarantine. From my perspective, it seems like this topic has been being shoved down our throats since the quarantine began, but it has really ramped up in May. I’m not trying to downplay mental health, just the opposite in fact. It’s just that I really have a hard time relating to why everyone is having such a hard time with all of this. It’s been two months, and is this really the hardest thing you’ve ever been through? If it is, that’s fine, however I’m frustrated because we are constantly playing to extroverts and their needs.

We live in an extrovert’s world. This is a world created by and for extroverts. It makes sense, if you are an introvert, you aren’t going to be the person to stand up and protest how things are, that’s what the extroverts do, hence it’s their world. For the first time ever though, the extroverts are having to live in our world, and they are FREAKING OUT. But I’ll get back to that in a second. For one second imagine being an introvert. As an introvert living in an extroverted world, you constantly have to adapt, to change, and to try to fit in because you will not be as successful or have access to most things we are conditioned to want otherwise.

Basic things, school, jobs, dating. All extroverted activities. Going to school at all for some introverts in and of itself is challenging, depending on how introverted you are. Let’s look at some of the activities that happen in school such as gym class, public speaking class, and anytime you have to get up in front of the class, such as reading a book report. Those are hard for any kid, but they are a nightmare for an introverted kid. Let’s take the working world. How do we enter the working world? We have to go on an interview. What is an interview? It’s talking to another person, meeting with them and ultimately bragging about yourself and your accomplishments. For an introvert, job interviews can be really, really hard. Then there is networking. In this day and age, everyone will tell you about the importance of networking. Well, what is networking, oh yeah, it’s being extroverted and talking to people.

Dating is the source of finding one’s mate. Even if you are just looking to have an evening hook-up, you generally have to speak to the person at some point in order to accomplish this. Be it dating in-person or online, dating is not for the faint of heart. Guess what? It’s an extroverts activity as well. During our childhood, teens, twenties and frankly adulthood do people say, oh let me help you? Or ask, what type of mental care do you need to get through this? No, they say figure it out, suck it up, and this is what you need to do to be successful. Now I’m not saying that is right, I’m just saying that that is how it is, in my opinion.

Now, as a collective society, for the first time ever, extroverts are being forced into our world, the world of the introvert. It’s been two months and I have heard more about self-care and mental health awareness than I have in my entire life. Frankly, I’m getting a little annoyed by it. Not because I am ridiculing or putting down anyone that actually needs it. No, if you need it you should absolutely get it, 100%. I’m annoyed because after only two months once again the extroverts get to make the rules. As an introvert, I’ve been forced to live in an extroverted world for 37 years and I’ve just had to adapt. Maybe the answer here is not that extroverts need to be comfortable in our world, maybe that’s not fair but maybe, just maybe we should try a little bit harder to offer mental health awareness the rest of the time.

So when all the introverts are struggling to fit into a world that is a lot of the time hard for us, instead of just saying figure it out, I want all the extroverts to remember how hard these last two months have been for them. I want them to know that it has been easy for a lot of the introverts. When you as an extrovert think that something is easy, like dating, networking or giving an oral presentation at school, I want you to reflect back on this time and remember that sometimes things are hard for people. Maybe we need to be more accepting of people all the time. Maybe mental health should always be a topic of discussion, not just when it’s convenient or in the month of May.