In our weekly chat about mental health and wellbeing, just a word or two on not necessarily having much to say, but being there anyway.
Hello and a very warm welcome to the spot on the Film Stories website where we chat about mental health, wellbeing, things that may be affecting you or people around you. That sort of thing. We run these pieces weekly, and hopefully somewhere in our archives there’s a piece that may be of use to you.
This one’s a bit of an oddity, though. When planning these articles out, there was a gap on this date that I never filled in. It’s one of the few times that I’ve started penning an article without an overarching thing to talk about, and in truth, it took a coffee or two to work this one out. I toyed with even taking a week off for the column. But then it struck me: sometimes, you just have to turn up. You have to be there, and you have to be present.
It’s a pretty underrated thing, that. Sometimes, when in a room with a couple of people, there’s an underlying pressure to talk, to say something, to fill the voice a little. That, on the one hand, undervalues silence just a little bit, but don’t take that from me: I’ve a mixed report card when it comes to reading social cues.
But on the other, it’s humans in a room. Sometimes, just comfortable being in a room, there for each other if needed. Just not with anything particular to say.
This column then isn’t full of world-changing revelations. Some may argue it’s even slighter than normal. But it’s important to me that, each week, there’s some kind of conversation going on here. Some kind of acknowledgement that mental health can be an absolute shit, even if it’s not being said that overtly.
This post this serves one or two functions. Firstly, there’s the usual open forum at the bottom to chat. Say hello if you’re so inclined. Secondly, thought, part of its reason for being is simple to be here. Even if we’re not full of conversation, this remains a regular safe space to have a chat about mental health, or just a weekly hat tip to the fact that many of us struggle with mental health and wellbeing, and we’re not entirely alone.
Expect improved words of wisdom next week perhaps. This week though, we’re just here. And I’m glad you are too. See you next time.
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