Our Mental Health Matters column returns, with a few thoughts on restarting the metaphorical car, and the challenges therein. Hello, and welcome to the (returning) bit on the Film Stories site where we stop for a bit to chat about mental health, and the things that may be affecting us, or those around us. These ... Mental Health Matters | Getting things going again
Our Mental Health Matters column returns, with a few thoughts on restarting the metaphorical car, and the challenges therein.
Hello, and welcome to the (returning) bit on the Film Stories site where we stop for a bit to chat about mental health, and the things that may be affecting us, or those around us. These articles don’t come with any miracles, and they’re not going to be of use to everyone, but hopefully over the course of the hundreds we’ve run, there’s something that might be of use to you.
In truth, this section of the site has been away for a little longer than originally planned. We pause them for a break once or twice a year, but the last month has been the longest without a mental health piece since they started running. The reason? Well, things are a bit overwhelming at the moment. And getting something back up and running when things are overwhelming feels particularly difficult.
However, I’m a bit of a believer in sooner or later, you have to put a metaphorical flag in the metaphorical sand, and do something to get things moving again. That otherwise, if you don’t do that, an obstacle starts to look like a mountain. The job that’s number three or four on the to-do list, that could in theory be done in an hour, has the aura of something that’ll take four times as long, or something really, really tricky to do.
Not all of those ingredients have come into play here, I should note, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the complexity and paradoxical simplicity sometimes of making something happen. Of getting something to exist in the world. In the scheme of things, a collection of words loosely grouped around a mental health topic isn’t going to change the world, nor will it cause ripples that lead to idiots in power suddenly becoming human beings, or something like that.
But also, how can I know what difference this section of the website might make if it didn’t exist? How can I tell from a collection of numbers telling me how many people have read something, whether it actually matters, or whether it’s done anyone any good?
The simple truth is I can’t, and as such, it came to decision time. Running material in and around mental health, both here and at Den Of Geek where I originally started it, has been part of my life for over a decade now, sometimes involving scrambling around to make sure that an article exists. But, as I’ve often made the point, sometimes it’s as important just to turn up and be there.
This is a cauldron of thoughts, then, all of which goes to the spaghetti our brains sometimes get into, in trying to make something happen. But, well, here we are. And next week, we’ll be here again.
The very best to you all. Thanks for reading. This column will be back in seven days.
