Mental Wealth
**This simplification of a complex topic is my own perspective. None of this is meant to offend people dealing with these complex problems**
The last year has given way to a lot of mental strain. The social dichotomies of the world have been turned upside down, and those in the age bracket of 14-24 have been left to pick up the pieces. Over these last fews months I have been trying to recreate normal. I have realized that many aspects of life have changed so quickly and disruptively that it isn’t possible to return to that normal. I must trek forward and prepare for even more change over the next ten years of my young life. In order to prepare for this, I have developed a personal set of tools and habits that can aid the continual growth of one’s Mental Wealth-- one of the only things that is in our control. Over the next few paragraphs I will dive into investing, assets, and depressions. However, these terms will be used in order to understand mental wealth, not material wealth. I consider mental wealth to be the addition of key virtues such as self-confidence, joy, perspective, willingness to change, and grit. The culmination of these characteristics have helped expand and help my wellbeing over the last two years of monumental change.
Mental Wealth is an idea that sprouted from a recessionary gap in my headspace. This recession seemed unending, uncharacteristic of myself, and unwilling to loosen its hold on my life. Since this was the first time I felt this way, I didn’t even realize how much of a funk I was in until it was over. I realized that I was off, but had no idea how to combat it. Not to mention there were not a lot of people I could confide in, at the time, to express how I was really feeling. My mind was in the gutter. I learned a lot from this time in my life, especially from the months I took to accumulate my mental wealth once again. I quickly began investing my time into activities, and habits. One thing about a recession is that there is always an upswing. The only variables that affected my mental wellbeing were time and how sound my mental assets were.
I began dedicating time to reading, playing the piano, surfing, and exercising. These are what I consider to be my mental assets. I hadn’t invested a lot of time into these hobbies before the depression, but I knew this would AT LEAST get me out of the negative*.
I was focusing on new avenues of things that made me happy:
I had been a fish since birth, why not try a new water activity
I love gaining new knowledge, hell yeah I’ll pick up a book (maybe even start writing for an online magazine)
I played two sports all my life, never been to the gym but I could try
I’ve always loved to sing, let’s pair that with an instrument
These activities had turned into hobbies and then progressed into habits that I continuously relied on to keep my mental health in check. After months investing time into these mental assets, I had accumulated a ton of Mental Wealth.This was done by advancing farther into these hobbies. Reading more books, learning the saddest song ever created on the piano, writing articles about sleep and The Grateful Dead, and many more things began to occupy time I had unknowingly set aside for paranoia and anxiety. My wellbeing was slowly being lifted out of the depression because I had attained a moderate amount of mental wealth with the help of mental assets.
Specifically, my mental wealth was increased in terms of self confidence, openness, knowledge, and resiliency. Surfing had forced me to get out of my comfort zone, and it allowed me to explore which I find very therapeutic. Exercising made me feel more in my skin, and I had never felt otherwise because I was constantly playing sports growing up. After getting to college I took a year off from the whole exercise thing and I can not think of something worse for my health. I found solace in reading about how Scott Galloway and Malcolm Gladwell perceived our society, and learned a lot. This gave me more confidence in taking part in intellectual conversations. All of my friends love music, but the idea of singing to it doesn’t really cross many of their minds. Surprisingly they thought it was cool that I picked up the piano, which gave me more self confidence about my ability.
My world got thrown to the curb again when the virus hit. Everyone fled campus like the apocalypse was upon us, and now there was only a small group on the day to day. Minimalistic tendencies took over campus at the beginning, and I was once again forced to cope with a rapid change in lifestyle. This time I was ready. At first I was disappointed in how everything panned out, but then I realized the assets I had in place to get me through this pandemic period. I started surfing two times a week, playing the piano every night, and exercising in my own bubble. Like a lot of people, the pandemic never really took a long term grip on my mental wellbeing and I owe it to the soundness of my mental assets: hobbies, interests, habits and my friendships.I definitely had invested a lot of time into these mindful assets, but equally important was the time I invested in my friends and vice versa.
Investing in relationships with people is something that continues to help. I have found that giving people your time is one of the best ways to show them you care. In turn, there is a sense of trust that builds among both people. I have put a lot of trust in my closest friends, and it has allowed me to rebuild my personality. Knowing that I have a group of people in my corner when shit hits the fan is comforting, and it is invaluable. Building up these types of relationships with others has been a great way of building mental wealth because they provide unconditional love and understanding. Having some of this allows me to be comfortable expanding in other aspects of my life. I lean on my friends for a lot of things because this support system keeps my mind in check. Friends have the best intentions in mind, and without them I would be truly lost. This is why I have spent so much of the past two years re-creating and sustaining the growth of my friendships with certain people because I want them in my life for the tumultuous years ahead.
I can confidently say that with the help of these “assets and investments” I have increased my Mental Wealth significantly since the beginning of college. There are so many hidden obstacles ahead so I am glad that I have accumulated assets that will help with the pitfalls of the next global pandemic, or the the next time my mind hits a recessionary gap. I am so thankful to have improved my mental health, and be able to contextualize them to a broader audience in hopes to help.