10. Be constructive

The truth is, as much as we might follow every step towards achieving a stable state of mental health or even have counselling sessions, there is always a void, a void that needs to be filled and this is the moment where most teenagers fail. We fail by filling the void through activities such as drug abuse, sexual activities or destructive behaviours. But you need to understand that everything we do has an impact on our lives and this could be both positive or negative, which means involving yourself in such activities only makes things worse for you as you will also have to worry about your health in the future.

There are many activities one can involve oneself in without having to worry about negative effects. Activities such as singing, dancing, arts, sport, writing and many more.

I find writing is a way of expressing myself. Writing has always been something I did when I was too broken to speak. And as time went by, I was able to express myself better through poetry. To be honest, despite writing, somewhere, somehow, there were days even writing couldn’t help. Days when I felt like there was no one in the world to hear me out and those were the days I looked up to a supernatural being to fill my void.

I’m not trying to be religious here, but knowing that I could trust Jesus with all my ugly emotions made a lot of things less heavy. Having people who comforted me through His words gave me hope and having a personal relationship with Him somehow filled the void. See, although these activities can possibly fill the void, sometimes you need more than that to keep you going, something supernatural. And for me that is Jesus Christ. I call Him a faithful friend.

As an individual, you also need to be reliable. And always be willing to assist others because the more you help others with their struggles, the more you get a sense of strength and have people who trust you. If you help others, you are better equipped to deal with certain situations because you have the knowledge to help those in need. This will encourage you to never give up because you don’t want to disappoint those who look up to you. During my worst days, I was blessed to speak to a very sweet individual by the name of Bianca. Her self-confidence and reliable character was something that attracted me to even open up to her.

I want to be that person that someone can confide in, like Bianca was for me.

Tell us: What did you think of the steps provided to help with mental health?