The Lowdown

Let's start with thinking of health as a state of wellness. We can think of wellness as choices, ways of being and activities that provide balance in our lives that improves our whole self; mind, body and wairua. As we evolve and grow and as our environment changes, our state of wellness may require adjustments. It's helpful to think of a state of wellness as flexible to what WE need WHEN we need. This gives us room to explore and try new practices, connecting with different support and resources.

Everyone has mental health. Mental health is a part of your hauora, it’s the wellness of your mind, your thoughts and how you feel. On any given day, the state of your mental health can be really good, okay, a bit up and down, feeling a bit low or really struggling, and it can change quickly and massively based on all the things that happen in life, both big and little. It’s often complicated because everyone’s experience of it is personal and unique.

Our hauora is not individual. It’s a weaving together of our whānau, our whakapapa, our connection to the world around us and our beliefs. This helps us form an identity that connects us to our past, grounds us in our present and lifts us up to the opportunities our future holds.

It means that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves, and within this we can find people who care and support, stories that uplift us and help us to feel connected and heard, and a sense of belonging and acceptance of who we are.

Your mental health is closely linked to how you think and feel about yourself and others, how you create and manage relationships and friendships and the ways that you’re able to cope with the ups and downs of emotions that you face in your everyday life.

If you’re feeling good, you might say your mental health is all good right now. If you’re feeling down, anxious or confused, you could say your mental health is struggling or just a bit shitty at the moment.

Sometimes your mental health can be impacted by things that you can’t control. These can include sickness, injuries or other impacts to your physical health, systemic inequalities, the way other people act or treat you, hormones or other chemical changes inside your body, and even the time of year, temperature and weather.

Your mental health doesn’t always stay the same.

There are many factors that impact our mental health and shift the balance between feeling good and feeling down or having a hard time as you move through different stages of your life. These challenges may come and go over time, they may be short or might last for many years. Everyone’s experience is unique and different from everybody else and can be heavily impacted by things like your culture, your family and your identity. You might be able to bounce back from a tough experience while someone else may feel weighed down by it for a long time and both of these responses are normal.

The one thing you always need to remember that you’re never alone in what you’re facing. People care about you and want you to be ok, and they may have a better understanding of how you’re feeling than you realise.

Positive mental health is often connected to having a sense of purpose, knowing who we are, being able to do the things that matter to us and feeling connected to others. This is linked to resilience, which is having positive ways to deal with your feelings, recover from things that impact you and enjoy life even when things are hard.

It’s important to know, though, that having positive mental health overall doesn’t mean you’re excluded from experiencing mental distress.

A great resource to assist with this is the 'Five Ways of Wellbeing' from the Mental Health Foundation 

If you’re thinking about harming yourself or are having suicidal thoughts, 

to talk to someone who cares and can support you.

You may hear the words ‘mental health’ being thrown around a lot in conversations, in the news or on social media. The thing is, you might not know what that means exactly. No worries, we’re here to help.

What is Mental Health?

A stressed-out person leaning on top of a bunch of books with a colourful filter overlayed with different Pacific patterns.

It is important to try and do your best in school as it sets you up to succeed as an adult, but at times the juggling of study, attending school, mahi/work, your whānau, extracurricular activities like sport and music, relationships and life in general can eventually add up and begin to overwhelm you. Even when it’s stuff you love doing, it can sometimes feel like you’re overloaded.

As you progress through high school and begin your NCEA levels, it’s common to begin to feel stressed, tired and overwhelmed by the study that is expected of you. If you think you might be suffering from study stress, here are some things you might be feeling:

Low energy and lack of motivation to attend class or get assignments done

Getting mad at your friends or family more often because of frustration

Physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches

If you start to recognise some of the symptoms above in yourself, it might be time to make some changes for the sake of your mental health and well-being.

Taking breaks – try to get some time in every week to relax and recharge your batteries

Say no to commitments that will make you more stressed, and think about some healthy boundaries you can set

Look at your schedule and prioritise what’s most important for you. If there’s a parent or caregiver involved in your decisions, ask them to help you make a plan that will reduce the pressure on you.

Have a chat with your teacher or lecturer and let them know you’re struggling. Ask them for support and advice on how to manage your workload in a way that supports you to succeed and ensures you have a healthy balance in your life.

Physical activity – go for a walk or run or take some time to play your favourite sport

Practice self-care by listening to music, baking or cooking, taking some time for something you enjoy or simply just going outside for some fresh air

 for some tools to help you manage your stress and relax your mind.

It’s important to make sure you get the physical and mental rest that you need to reset and recharge, as if you keep pushing through you could burn out and reach a point where you can’t do any of it.

Even though they might not seem like they understand everything you’re going through, parents, caregivers and teachers totally know how it feels to be overloaded. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for extra support. They may be able to help take some pressure off you or give you some guidance if you’re worried you’ll fall behind on your work or miss an assignment deadline.

Remember, even if you do fail a test, your NCEA or even a Uni paper, it’s not going to ruin your life. You’re going to be fine, and once you’re out of school your bosses won’t even care what your grades were. The same goes for if you have to drop out of school for any reason. There is always more time to study if you want to upskill at any point in your life, and some of the best jobs come with learned experience not qualifications anyway.

If you have a learning disability, this may be another reason you’re feeling overwhelmed by school. If a learning disability is having an impact on your ability to study and succeed in school, you may be able to find help in the support systems available to you. Check out the following links for some good options you may qualify for. Remember, who you are is not judged by what you can do, and having struggles doesn’t mean you’re not smart.

If you’re really struggling with stress overload and feel burnt out, you’ve tried to make changes but it just isn’t getting any easier or you feel like you can’t bear to face each day, it’s important that you talk to someone you trust or your school counsellor about how you’re feeling and ask them for support.

School seems to be all about grades, right? And everyone says the only way to get there is by studying and working hard. They expect you to do more and more, until it can feel like there’s just too much to do. 

Study Stress

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Anxiety happens when your brain thinks there might be something it needs to protect you from, even if there is no threat or danger. You might have felt like this when you had to talk in front of your class, before a try-out, during quiz/exam time or before a performance. Sometimes it can happen for no reason at all.

Even if anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling, it serves a purpose.

You could think about it like a smoke alarm. When a room fills with smoke, the smoke alarm doesn’t know where it’s coming from – it could be a house fire or it could just be the toaster! Either way, its sensors are triggered, the alarm goes off and makes everyone jump into action.

Your anxiety works the same way – your brain is saying something is wrong and it doesn’t know what, but it starts to react anyway and your body’s reactions are activated. When this is happening, your body is surging with a mix of chemicals designed to make you stronger, faster, more alert and more powerful so you can take the action your body needs to survive.

At times your anxiety may trigger something called the fight, flight or freeze response, where your brain tells you to protect yourself by fighting back, running away or freezing and trying not to stand out. This is normal and healthy and everyone has it, but when there is no danger you need to protect yourself from, the chemical fuel that is surging through you starts to build up and make you feel uncomfortable – you may get sweaty, shaky, feel tired, queasy or short of breath or feel your heart beating faster.

A bit of anxiety can be helpful, it can make you think more about the situation you’re in, and can motivate you to get things done or do your best. Most anxiety usually settles once the stressful situation has passed. When anxiety is at this level, you don’t need to do anything except focus on getting through the situation - these anxious thoughts and feelings will probably go away once it’s over.

If you need some practical ways to help you cope with these feelings, check out 

Anxiety is only a problem when you can’t cope with it - when those feelings get 

 that they stop you from doing things in your everyday life and make you feel miserable. If you find yourself at this point, it’s time to reach out for help. Start by talking to someone you trust about how you’re feeling, or reach out to 

Anxiety disorders occur when your anxiety takes over your life and stops you from doing things. They are diagnosed by a mental health professional, and can occur in different forms.

Getting a diagnosis is really important as once you know what kind of anxiety you have, you and your support team (your therapist or other mental health professional and other trusted people in your life) can work out a plan to treat it and help you recover.

 is when you feel anxious and worry heaps about everyday things, like “Was what I said in the group chat weird, are they going to think there’s something wrong with me?”or “I’m going to screw up in next week’s exam, I just can’t do it. It’s going to ruin my future”. You may find yourself replaying what’s stressing you over and over in your head and feel like you can’t let it go. You might be really hard on yourself about being perfect, fitting in and doing everything well. For some people, feelings of anxiety might become so overwhelming it can affect you physically.

Many people are also now struggling with 

. This is really common since the beginning of the pandemic, and is usually focused around feeling scared of catching covid or of passing it on to someone else, to the point where it’s dominating your thoughts and making you afraid to go out, to be in busy places or be near other people. Due to all the time we’ve spent at home and avoiding other people over the last few years, even if you’re not specifically scared of catching covid, you still might feel anxious and overwhelmed in public places and when someone gets in your personal space.

Some people with covid anxiety may experience 

, when your brain focuses in on what’s making you anxious so intensely that you start to panic and feel physical symptoms. If you think you have been experiencing anxiety attacks, head to 

 and practice the Deep Breathing and Muscle Relaxation techniques you’ll find there, and use them next time you think an anxiety attack is coming on. A mental health professional can also help you learn to control your anxiety attacks and reach a point where they no longer happen.

Another common type of anxiety disorder is 

. This can take over when you meet new people, have to speak in class, make phone calls or other situations where someone’s attention is on you.

Your fear of talking to strangers, having people stare at you, potentially embarrassing yourself or just having a conversation with someone you’re not comfortable with can be so intense that you can start avoiding these situations and not want to interact with other people.

 are a fear or anxiety that’s about something specific – like if you’re intensely scared of spiders, the dark or being in small spaces. These might sound harmless (and they often are) but for the person with the phobia it’s really tough. Most people who experience phobias aren’t harmed by them but if it starts to get in the way of living your life, you need to talk to someone you trust and ask them for help. 

However your anxiety feels, if this excessive worry gets in the way of your life, doesn’t go away or has physical effects on your body, that’s a sign that you should tell someone you trust about how you’re feeling and ask them for help. If you’re willing to see your doctor or a mental health professional, they can help you find ways to manage and eventually overcome your anxiety.

You’re not alone in what you’re feeling. Heaps of people experience anxiety and everyone finds it a tough thing to face. 

can take time and you’ll have some good and bad days, but managing and overcoming your anxiety is definitely possible.

It’s important to note that sometimes the person you talk to may not offer you the help and support you need, but don’t give up there. Try again with someone else. 

You are important, your experience is valid and just because someone doesn’t listen or give you the help you need doesn’t mean what you’re facing isn’t real.

If you don’t feel like you have anyone to talk to, try calling 

 to talk to someone who cares and can offer you support.

We all get stressed or anxious sometimes. It’s a very common and normal feeling that everyone experiences at different levels during different times in their lives.

Anxiety

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You may be going on to secondary study. You may not have wanted to leave school but have had to get a job to support your whānau. You may have decided further study isn’t for you or isn’t accessible and are heading into the workforce. For whatever reason you’re leaving, just remember that this does not define who you are or determine your long-term future.

It can be a scary and daunting, leaving familiar environments. For the first time, you may find yourself suddenly in full time work or you may be off to uni in a whole new city or environment with new responsibilities.

You might feel pressure brought on by expectations from your parents or caregivers, your relatives or your teachers to go and study or to get a job.

You might also be worried or down because you’ll be leaving friends and things that you know behind. This sense of loss is normal. Just remember, there was a time when school was new and scary too. You’ll get used to whatever’s next, just give it some time.

There are a lot of other things you may have to navigate too, such as:

Living independently for the first time with less whānau support

Developing new relationships with flatmates, work colleagues, lecturers etc.

Heading into a workplace with strict rules or guidelines and expectations on your performance

Moving from a more casual school environment to a professional workplace

Financial worries – you might suddenly need to have enough income to cover your food and living costs, transport and rent, and you may need to get yourself set up with a student loan.

Anxiety over future career options – many people don’t know what they want to do yet when they leave school, and that’s stressful!

Remember that it’s normal to feel anxious about what comes next, but that you’ll adapt quickly. To help you get ahead, do some research online and create a plan, think about where you would like to be in the next 2-5 years’ time and how you’re going to get there. Ask for advice on your next steps from someone you trust, or see your school’s careers advisor or guidance counsellor. It’s also ok just to take it one day at a time – you don’t have to have it all together.

If you haven’t decided what you want to do, there are a lot of options to consider:

You could sign up for an apprenticeship or traineeship

 – this is a great option if you want a valuable, hands-on skill that earns money while you learn. 

Head here to find out more info and how to sign up to an apprenticeship.

You could skip study for now and get a job

 – this may be what you want, but in many low income families this may also be the expected option for you. If this is you but you’re dreaming of doing more, don’t give up – you may still be able to create a plan that will get you to where you want to be. 

Head here to work through some of the steps around heading into the workforce.

You might want to take a gap year, work and experience life as an adult then jump into study when you have a clearer idea of what you want to do. If you’re taking this option, remember to plan out your gap year and have an accountability buddy/partner to support you in sticking to your plans. You don’t want to take a gap life!

 – you may want to go on a trip and experience the world, or maybe you’re keen to study overseas.

 – you could go to University or your local Polytech. You may feel that this isn’t an option for you, especially if your family is pressuring you to get a job or you don’t have much money. There is support that may help you to study regardless of these pressures, so check out the 

 to learn more about what might be possible, or talk to your school guidance counsellor or careers advisor.

A lot of people think choosing a career path after leaving school is set in stone, but it’s really not. If you change your mind, you can change what you want to do at any point. You can always go back to study, change your degree or job or do another apprenticeship or traineeship at any point in your life.

Remember, every journey is different, don't worry about what anyone else thinks or is doing, focus on what feels right for you.

If you’re struggling with the pressures of leaving school and it’s making you feel overwhelmed and down, talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling and ask them for help.

Leaving school means leaving your comfort zone. It’s a big time in your life and you’re probably deal with a lot of mixed feelings and emotions.

Leaving School

In today's world, it can be easy to become overwhelmed. Find support, connect and learn on the Lowdown.

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Your mental health is essential to your overall well-being and is just as important as your physical health. Find support, connect and learn on the Lowdown.

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It's normal to feel anxious sometimes. But if you're finding it hard to cope, find support, connect and learn on the Lowdown. 

Want to learn more about depression and mental distress? Find support, connect and learn at The Lowdown.

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#Overwhelmed

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