So many people now are experiencing major stress and anxiety to juggle achieving and acquiring the must-haves in our lives. We've created a monster through working faster, harder and more than ever before. Where is the balance? Are we heading towards getting sick through more stress?
We are seeing more people than ever before in doctor's waiting rooms asking for prescribed drugs to deal with the increasing stress of everyday life. We need to take a look and open up conversations about what's to be done.
The thing about mental imbalance is that it can affect any of us, anytime. It's ageless and classless. It can creep up from nowhere. There's a lot of people now talking about their very real experiences of feeling 'out of their mind' with stress, feeling so anxious with life and not being able to tell people for fear of losing their job, being judged or labelled.
Ruby Wax, Stephen Fry and many other successful people have openly talked about having mental health issues and blowing open the lid about their terrifying experiences. There's been such stigma attached in the past and this is gradually being worked through as we are getting more honest about the difficulties being faced - many of us are over stressed, anxious, and depressed. We need some answers on what is to be done.
Paying attention and increasing awareness on how we run our minds day to day is one thing we can learn more about and teach others. Teaching young people in schools and colleges about emotional wellbeing and keeping healthy in mind as well as body is an important start. There are a number of schools now offering lessons on mindfulness and wellbeing and this trend is growing.
If we can teach our young people how to feel better and share some of the tools we have for getting better from the inside out, then our education system will improve dramatically over night. So too will children's learning potential.
It's time to bring wellness and mindfulness deeper into the education process.
Let's talk about it.
Susie Pearl took part in HuffPost Conversation Starters at Wilderness. The Huffington Post UK are proud media partners of Wilderness. Check back here for more exclusive blogs, competitions and stories soon. For tickets to the event click here: www.wildernessfestival.com