‘Vadoka mental odu ra babu’ ‘Rey daaniki kochem mental ra’
You’ve definitely heard one of these 2 lines casually coming out of your friend’s mouth before. That’s how we normalised the word ‘mental’.
Today I’m here to talk about why we, The people of Telugu states should start talking Mental health seriously.
1. The meaning of the word 'Mental' !
We use the word Mental in a very wrong way. Mental is an adjective to define a state of mind. But we literally made it a cuss word. And we should not. Like you don’t go around calling people, ‘Rey, pora physical’, right? Then why call people 'Mental' !?

2. Our education system is messed up
I did my engineering from Punjab. What I’ve observed up there in North is that, for them, after 10th class.. There is no unnecessary competition in life.. Like, the students over there continue their 11th and 12th classes in the same school where they’re studying their 10th at. Class 11 and 12 is NORMAL over there. (This happens in schools like Kendriya Vidhyalaya).
Here, In Telugu states, It’s entirely a different case. Once you’re done with your 10th class, Its frikking rat race all over. I know that there are Kendriya Vidyalayas present here also. But our mindsets are so habituated to only join in Narayanas & Chaitanyas.
Like, Imagine a 16 year old going through that much of change all of a sudden after 10th class! That’s a lot to take in. And with whom does he share all this pressure ? His parents ? Would they listen and understand ? All the parents (at least once) have said that, ‘Ye nuv okkadive chaduvtunnava enti, Everybody is studying the same. You’re no different.’
This is exactly how we kill creativity of young minds. By telling them to ‘Not to be different’, by telling them to follow the sheep herd.
Teenagers go through a lot mentally once after 10th standards, and it’s high time we start talking to them.

3. FOMO, Anxiety.
FOMO, Fear of missing out, is the worst to have. Like, for example, I didn’t even know I saw suffering with FOMO till I read it on the internet. I wish we were more vocal about things like these.

4 Desire to be like others
We all get influenced by people around us. This influence is good enough if it doesn’t effect us in any bad way.
We all should understand that people only put up good/happy stuff on social media. We should never go by that, All that glitters isn’t gold. We are good in our own ways.

5 Peer Pressure & Comparison
If there’s anything that our Indian parents should stop doing ASAP. This is it, They should stop comparing their kids with others.
Especially teenagers take it very seriously, they take all that peer pressure onto them.
In one line, Comparison kills you mentally, in the long run.

6 EDUCATE YOUR PARENTS
This is the topic that you can actually educate your parents about. And there’s nothing wrong about it. They spent their money on our education, to become a better person, better than them.

7 Its OK to fail
Our society is super scared of failures.
We can’t digest failures, we keep giving our own Uchita Salahalu ‘unnecessary free suggestions’ to the people who’ve failed, without even listening to them and understanding what’s on their mind.
It’s OK to do nothing for a particular period of time in your life. This is the time where you discover more about yourself. Don’t let people shame you for having this phase in your life.

8 We don’t share our feelings
Most teenagers (and even adults) hold back their feelings within themselves. We don’t share them with anyone. Which makes the pain even heavier. So always open up and share your feelings with the right person. But ONLY with the right kind of person.
Because it’s better to not share at all than share it with the wrong person.

9 LONELINESS
I’ve saved the deadliest of all at the end. Loneliness kills you mentally more than anything. Talk to your friends, If you don’t have any, talk to your parents.

10 Why don’t we go to mental check-ups ! Why is it a taboo !!
How many times have you been to a doctor for a physical problem you’ve had ? So many times, right? But how times have you been to a doctor (psychiatrist) for a mental check-up ? I’ll end the article with this very important question.

Its time we break all these taboos surrounding Mental Health and start talking freely and openly about it. Talk to your friends, parents, kids, siblings and listen to their stories.
‘Mental health is also health’.