Our mental health needs healthy relationships. You can work on yourself and make a lot of progress, but at the end of the day we need each other. We are communal beings with tribal tendencies, and that is hardwired into us.
Oftentimes we think, I will work on myself and everything will be better! And you can do a lot by working on yourself. You can get to where you are rocking it and being independent. You can become amazingly self sufficient.
Your core relationships are a part of your mental health. When you are working on yourself, they will come up. They especially come up when your relationships with key family members or other core relationships aren’t matching or mirroring your values.
There is power in healthy relationships. The agenda of self sufficiency is littered throughout our culture and mixed up in our values system, but healthy relationships can be transformational. When we open up enough to be loved and to give love, we can work through issues like attachment wounds and trauma.
We can practice healthy relating in our key relationships and community. That includes setting and honoring boundaries, and treating each other with respect. We can come together with curiosity and authenticity, and work through conflict with intention. This helps us all feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Mental health includes the whole of us, as both an individual and in relationships with others. A lot of us want and desire agency to stand on our own two feet, which is great. We also need to know how to come together in healthy ways, and to support each others’ growth and healing. Mental healthcare and Counseling can help move us through that process when we need it.
