Dear Editor

Nearly one in five U.S adults live with a mental illness, 52.9 million in 2020. Mental health can be thought of as successful mental functioning that results in productive activities, fulfilling relationships, and the ability to cope with change and adversity. The state of our mental health has a significant impact on our future and how we interact with others, which in turn affects those around us.

Everyone gets affected by mental health in some way or another, so it could be financially, at home, family, school, or even within themself trying to find out who they are. Mental health affects everyone, but it's ignored. We push it off because this stigma around mental health is taboo and shouldn't be spoken upon. It's not important. It's something that's in our heads. Since we neglect mental health and ignore it as we get older, we get these disorders that affect us, causing it to be the leading cause of disability. If we aren't taking care of our mental health, we are not giving its priority. A big reason for this is that people think that if they need help, they are broken and need to be fixed. That's not the case. We need to normalize our mental health to break that stigma. They need help, but there is nothing wrong with getting help. It's just part of them and part of the journey of being who they are.

This stigma around mental health is such a big problem because it's known that it makes us weak, and it's hard for people to go to and reach out for help. Mental health significantly impacts everybody's life, and we must bring that importance and awareness to mental health to help people become the best versions of them.

—  Jasmeet Kaur