So we've taken a look at everything from PTSD to Mental health medicines, the stages of grief, and support groups in my last blogs. Now we're going to change gears and look at some suggestions for ways to help you deal with grief, stress, and your overall mental health.
Today we're going to take a look at something that I feel is a great way to improve your mental health. This is my opinion, and while I can provide links to research that show that picking up a new hobby can be very helpful in the grieving process, or to help with stress or anxiety, I want to talk more specific today, and from personal experience.
PHOTOGRAPHY
There's a lot of people who believe that taking on a new hobby will help people dealing with grief, anger, stress, anxiety, depression... you get the point. The idea is that it allows the person to focus on something other that the issue that is causing their stress.
While I whole heartedly agree with this theory, I would like to take it a step further and suggest photography. Let me explain why:
There are two benefits that photography bring to the table that are above and beyond other "Hobbies" that a person can pick up. The first is that it actually makes you take the time to stop and look at the world around you. When you are going through a stressful time, you tend to spend a lot of time with your head down, and forget that there's an entire world happening around you. The second reason is that you start actually noticing the beauty around you too. When you're driving in your car and you come over that bridge and see the city skyline, or turn the corner on a country road and the light of the sunset strikes you just right, or that cold morning where the frost has frozen to the trees...
When you are going through a hard time, especially dealing with grief or depression, it's very important to find something that helps you see the beauty in things again.
When I first moved to Minnesota, I was going through a rough time. On top of that, I was new here, and didn't know anyone or have family in the area. I was trying to deal with my situation alone, and it got very hard. I stopped into a pawn shop one day, and saw a cannon camera (yep, an old 35mm) for fifty bucks. I had been fighting a pretty strong depression, and was trying to find something that would help me out of it, and that camera looked like it would do the trick. It did.
I left that pawn shop on that cold February day, went downtown, and parked my truck. I walked around Minneapolis for the first time that day, and found some great pictures. I stumbled on a greenhouse near an art museum that had a beautiful arboretum full of tropical flowers in bloom and tall palm trees. In February in Minnesota, that kind of beauty is a stark contrast to the cold drab outside...
It's been two years since then, and many hundreds of pictures later that camera still sits next to me. I got a digital for Christmas this year, so I'm getting even more excited about taking pictures. Every picture in my post today is one that I've taken over the last two years, starting with this palm tree picture taken on that cold February day. It helped get me out of my depression, and every day now I notice the beauty in the world around me.
Photography might not be the answer for you, but if you're dealing with stress, depression, grief, anxiety, or any issue that affects your mental health, maybe you should give it a try. There's a lot of beauty out there still waiting to be found!
Today we're going to take a look at something that I feel is a great way to improve your mental health. This is my opinion, and while I can provide links to research that show that picking up a new hobby can be very helpful in the grieving process, or to help with stress or anxiety, I want to talk more specific today, and from personal experience.
PHOTOGRAPHY
There's a lot of people who believe that taking on a new hobby will help people dealing with grief, anger, stress, anxiety, depression... you get the point. The idea is that it allows the person to focus on something other that the issue that is causing their stress. While I whole heartedly agree with this theory, I would like to take it a step further and suggest photography. Let me explain why:
There are two benefits that photography bring to the table that are above and beyond other "Hobbies" that a person can pick up. The first is that it actually makes you take the time to stop and look at the world around you. When you are going through a stressful time, you tend to spend a lot of time with your head down, and forget that there's an entire world happening around you. The second reason is that you start actually noticing the beauty around you too. When you're driving in your car and you come over that bridge and see the city skyline, or turn the corner on a country road and the light of the sunset strikes you just right, or that cold morning where the frost has frozen to the trees...When you are going through a hard time, especially dealing with grief or depression, it's very important to find something that helps you see the beauty in things again.
When I first moved to Minnesota, I was going through a rough time. On top of that, I was new here, and didn't know anyone or have family in the area. I was trying to deal with my situation alone, and it got very hard. I stopped into a pawn shop one day, and saw a cannon camera (yep, an old 35mm) for fifty bucks. I had been fighting a pretty strong depression, and was trying to find something that would help me out of it, and that camera looked like it would do the trick. It did.
I left that pawn shop on that cold February day, went downtown, and parked my truck. I walked around Minneapolis for the first time that day, and found some great pictures. I stumbled on a greenhouse near an art museum that had a beautiful arboretum full of tropical flowers in bloom and tall palm trees. In February in Minnesota, that kind of beauty is a stark contrast to the cold drab outside...It's been two years since then, and many hundreds of pictures later that camera still sits next to me. I got a digital for Christmas this year, so I'm getting even more excited about taking pictures. Every picture in my post today is one that I've taken over the last two years, starting with this palm tree picture taken on that cold February day. It helped get me out of my depression, and every day now I notice the beauty in the world around me.
Photography might not be the answer for you, but if you're dealing with stress, depression, grief, anxiety, or any issue that affects your mental health, maybe you should give it a try. There's a lot of beauty out there still waiting to be found!
