It’s okay to not be okay, Grace McManus

It’s hard being a young person at the best of times. Add a global pandemic into the mix, and you suddenly have a mental health crisis on your hands, writes Grace McManus. TW: Mental illness.

Picture: Lucia Mai

YOU'LL HAVE TO FORGIVE me if this article is unreadable. I've been unable to see past the static behind my eyes since March, so the luxurious act of writing has been just that — a luxury that my energy levels simply haven't been able to afford. -

If you don't know of this static, you're one of the lucky ones. If lockdown was a treat, if uni's been a breeze, if your sleep pattern hasn't billowed out to ten-hour comas or whittled down to be barely longer than a long-ish blink, then you'll be reading this with the kind of disaffected affectedness that accompanies the death of other people's pets. But, if you're also battling the static within your own head, I hope you'll be reading this article as a form of vindication, of validation. We're allowed to feel shit, and by god, do we feel fucking shit.

Looking at the statistics of static, more of you are likely to fall into the latter group than the former. In fact, symptoms of generalised anxiety and clinical depression were twice as prevalent in Australia in the first month of COVID-19 restrictions than in normal – or precedented – times (The Medical journal of Australia). Unsurprisingly, then, there was also a 30 per cent increase in calls to Beyond Blue in that first month, and, more recently, Lifeline answered a record number of calls in one day.

There's more where those came from, but I'm sure you've heard it all before. Besides, I'm not sure how useful statistics are when it comes to the static in our own minds. If you feel like shit, does it really help you to know that heaps of other people are feeling like shit too?

And, of course, I'm sure you know what does help. Exercise, vegetables, talking to loved ones, patting an animal, making a mental health care plan with your GP, jumping on your bike and riding until you hit the ocean and then dumping it on the beach and diving into the water and swimming, full-pelt, until you hit land, preferably New Zealand. Oh, and reaching out. All that stuff.

So, if the static in your head is also making you trivialise important mental health advice in a public forum, shout out to you. I feel obliged to end this on a positive note, but I can't wrangle up much, so I guess I'll just say — hope you find the remote and switch it off soon.

Lifeline: 13 11 14 Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 Kids helpline: 1800 55 1800