I enjoy writing for many reasons, including making satire from my day-to-day experiences. As for the other, I am a storyteller. I use my stories to raise awareness about many issues that aren’t out in the public…. Like the elephant in the room. How fast? It’s already May. This year must be on steroids, isn’t it?
In the words of the great Chinua Achebe in his book Things Fall Apart, “A man who calls his kinsmen to feast doesn’t do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their homes. When we get together on the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. everyman can see the moon from his compound. We come together because it is good for the kinsmen to do so…”
In the essence of African childhood pre-tech era, villages played a great role. It was and still is the social fabric. The young, the old, the novice…and the whole village collaborated and came together. Villages were alive. The old men sneak a peek of their accumulated wisdom to the young and energetic. The stories besides the fire late into the night. The joy in feasting together from the big platter. And would be a better sumptuous wrap to complete this life with a cold bath deep in the river? That was the village. I know you must be wondering why is this guy obsessed with the village. Oh! I believe we are a global village. And one pertinent issue that calls for villagers to come together is mental health.
It’s good for kinsmen to come together. In May, we come together to raise awareness about mental health and stand by them. May and Mental health. Shall we? Many young men and women in this country are dealing with a lot of elephants in their rooms- mental illnesses. Depression, anxiety and schizophrenia just to mention a few. This is alarming. It’s no more storytelling sessions. When the alligator comes out of the water and says the crocodile is sick, I bet you will not doubt it. It is ironic when this comes across as medical doctors succumbing to mental illnesses. Society forgets they are humans as well. As humanly possible there are emotions and triggers. Aren’t they affected by the dynamics of society and the stress it comes with? Of course. Statistically, frontline healthcare workers are succumbing more and more to suicide. What exacerbates this most is the troll on social networks about just how glorified this profession is and how lofty it pays off, but at what cost? To what end?
I believe no one wants to take their own life by themselves in their prime of potential and value with a promising long life to live. Long adventurous life. Damn, that is painful. Trolls on social media come from a dystopian flavour of doctors reaping a lot for their role in the healthcare system. What they don’t get is that healthcare is botched, broken and distorted. An intern working 36hours with no break, in less-resourced areas where you are solely depended on for life and death cases with no mentor and proper guidance, social life to live and worse off expectation to be cash cows for an “egalitarian” society that believes doctors need to pay a premium for their gains.
Young men and women, aren’t your backs broken? We rarely talk a lot about our past. Maybe we are hurt, or perhaps it’s just that life never presents a chance to reminisce. This is the chance to reminisce. May, mental health and many stories.
The world expects a lot from you just that being young is not enough. The ceilings have been put on our heads. It is easy to want to talk and improve yourself, but something entirely different is the society around us doesn’t know us, what we are, and who we are. The bones are broken: the last straw on the camel’s hump. I believe in raising and vocalizing the words of mental health for sanity and existence. You are champions in your keen contribution to the field of medicine, technology and whatever field you specialize in.
As one of my mentors puts it mental health is like any illness. No one knows better than a physician who understands the basic homeostasis of the body in case of any pathology medicines and treatments must be sought. After all, we have raised our voices in the holistic care of the mind, body and soul. In this holistic care don’t we see the mind comes before the body? Mind is all. Mental fort and stability are keys before the body itself. A society that questions our bare existence wouldn’t understand the elephants in our rooms. Societal expectations are no less than a burden. Our social life. Our families. But is the elephant immortal?
I believe to answer this question needs a perspective. A perspective of one accepting mental issues as any other illness and the need to declutter the fort. If we adopt that then the elephant is mortal. To underscore the need for therapy in this article would be a great injustice to the editor who would scorn me. I take her off some burden to spare some time with herself…. hahaha. Jokes aside you need therapy and you need a safe space to shift the mirror for you. You need a space where no one questions your shortcomings. You need the other side of the mirror. The other you who has been hiding behind your full potential young man and woman. You need to talk out the pain. Problems talked out are half solved. Therapy. In the year 2023 do yourself some justice and seek one. Men dare to say I am not talking out because it’s a sign of weakness I believe the opposite is true. You must show vulnerability and be heard least if not by your family and friends by a professional therapist with whom you sign confidentiality documents. Declutter. Get the skeleton out of the closet and bloom. If you feel something poking your back, well next time remember that’s is the elephant in the room.
The sorrow engulfed in your souls, the aches in your chest and the bitterness in your hearts shall be withdrawn in your safe space. Without light, hope or happiness then despair turns everything into nothingness. Mental illness brings this despair. Grief is impossible to describe what young medics go through. Our eyes are going dry grieving over the loss of our own every other time. Our minds are haunted spaces. Fort of fights. Ashes shall soon be all we shall be left off. Trust me you shall rise again from the ashes… like a phoenix. I am proud of you young men and women.
Dr. Aden Siyat
Curator, Junior Pharmacists Network(JPN)
Podcaster, The JAV Talk Experience