IMPACT: Parenting with Perspective - Mental and Emotional Health

Mental and Emotional Health

01/14/21 • 27 min

IMPACT: Parenting with Perspective

"Send Ben a text"

Mental Health vs Mental Illness vs Mental Disorder

Lots of people use the terms "mental health," "mental illness," and "mental disorder" interchangeably.

For me, mental health and mental illness refer to two different things.

For me, Mental Health refers to:

Mental and emotional well being.
The ability to be aware of one's thoughts, feelings, and how they relate to their actions.
The ability to process thoughts and emotions, both positive and negative or large and small.
It's the ability to problem solve and overcome struggles and challenges.

On the other hand, Mental Illness and Mental Disorders refer more to diagnoses like:

Depression
ADD/ADHD
Bipolar, Identity, and Personality disorders,
Eating disorders
PTSD
Sevier Anxiety
Schizophrenia

Mental Health and Emotional Health Go Hand in Hand

We talked about mental health earlier. Let's take a minute and talk about Emotional Health.

For me, Emotional Health is the ability to experience any and ALL emotions, good or bad, negative or positive, happy or sad, from one extreme to the other. In addition to being able to experience these emotions, it's also important to be able to identify them, process them, and appreciate them.

I Focus on Improving Mental and Emotional HEALTH!

Again, I'm not a doctor, therapist, or counselor. I want to make that clear! But, we can all improve our mental & emotional health.

There's a misconception that only certain people can help others, especially teens, improve their mental health. Yes, this might apply to mental illness and disorders, but mental health is somethi

I can help you improve your mental health.

Everyone can improve their mental and emotional health in one area or another. And, like physical health, we have to power to do most of our own mental and emotional health work for ourselves, on our own.

Many times developing and bolstering our mental health is just a simple matter of changing how we think. Sometimes it's adding new routines and habits to our lives.

Call to ACTION!

January is the time to join my group coaching program!

I promise that this will help you become the parent of your dreams. You will develop the skills to be intentional, to turn struggles in to strengths, and to build a rock-solid relationship with your teen.

Plus, I'm joining forces with 3 other coaches to offer you the BEST parenting membership EVER!

The Doors Are Open! Become a Member of Firmly Founded Parents!

Do you want to become confident in your parenting?
Are you ready to stop power struggling with your teenager?
Do you just want help and support from other parents just like you?
Are you ready to build a rock-solid relationship with your teen?

You can achieve all of this and more by becoming a member of Firmly Founded Parents!
As a member, you'll get:

🔥 Exclusive trainings for parenting teens in 2021
📅2 LIVE Zoom Calls throughout the month with or certified coaches
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Unlimited access to our community of like-minded parents
🏆 2 coaching sessions/month with our expert coaches
🎯 Learn ways to have a powerful impact on your teen's life
😎

Want a Simple Step by Step Parenting Debrief Guide?

Go download the FREE Parenting Debrief Guide.

It’s simple and quick. It will help you uplevel your parenting. And, it’s completely FREE!

Go to benpughcoaching.com/debrief
Download the debrief
Start with your own internal debrief.

"Send Ben a text"

Mental Health vs Mental Illness vs Mental Disorder

Lots of people use the terms "mental health," "mental illness," and "mental disorder" interchangeably.

For me, mental health and mental illness refer to two different things.

For me, Mental Health refers to:

Mental and emotional well being.
The ability to be aware of one's thoughts, feelings, and how they relate to their actions.
The ability to process thoughts and emotions, both positive and negative or large and small.
It's the ability to problem solve and overcome struggles and challenges.

On the other hand, Mental Illness and Mental Disorders refer more to diagnoses like:

Depression
ADD/ADHD
Bipolar, Identity, and Personality disorders,
Eating disorders
PTSD
Sevier Anxiety
Schizophrenia

Mental Health and Emotional Health Go Hand in Hand

We talked about mental health earlier. Let's take a minute and talk about Emotional Health.

I Focus on Improving Mental and Emotional HEALTH!

Again, I'm not a doctor, therapist, or counselor. I want to make that clear! But, we can all improve our mental & emotional health.

There's a misconception that only certain people can help others, especially teens, improve their mental health. Yes, this might apply to mental illness and disorders, but mental health is somethi

I can help you improve your mental health.

Many times developing and bolstering our mental health is just a simple matter of changing how we think. Sometimes it's adding new routines and habits to our lives.

Call to ACTION!

January is the time to join my group coaching program!

Plus, I'm joining forces with 3 other coaches to offer you the BEST parenting membership EVER!

The Doors Are Open! Become a Member of Firmly Founded Parents!

You can achieve all of this and more by becoming a member of Firmly Founded Parents!
As a member, you'll get:

🔥 Exclusive trainings for parenting teens in 2021
📅2 LIVE Zoom Calls throughout the month with or certified coaches
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Unlimited access to our community of like-minded parents
🏆 2 coaching sessions/month with our expert coaches
🎯 Learn ways to have a powerful impact on your teen's life
😎

Want a Simple Step by Step Parenting Debrief Guide?

Go download the FREE Parenting Debrief Guide.

It’s simple and quick. It will help you uplevel your parenting. And, it’s completely FREE!

Go to benpughcoaching.com/debrief
Download the debrief
Start with your own internal debrief.

Previous Episode

Being Resilient is Hard . . . and that's OK!

"Send Ben a text"

Why Is It SO Hard To Be Resilient?

It IS hard to be resilient, and it’s hard to develop resilience.

But, it’s not hard in an impossible bad way. It’s hard in a good empowering way.

Asking why it’s hard to develop resilience is like asking why it’s hard to bench press or lift weights. The answer is because it has to be hard. Lifting weights is supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, you wouldn’t get stronger. As you get better, you intentionally make it harder by adding more and more weight. You are literally making it heavier and harder.

So, why is it so hard to develop resilience?

Because that is how it has to be. Struggle, hardship, discomfort, these are simply the price of becoming resilient. Think of resilience like bravery or courage. We all think that being brave and courageous is a good skill to have, right?

Well, is it possible to be brave without first being afraid? The answer is NO. There is no bravery without fear.

Similarly, there is no resilience without struggle. This is why it’s so hard to build resilience.

How To Help Your Teen.

It sounds harsh, but let them struggle. I’m not saying to pile it on and go out of your way to make their life miserable, just allow them to struggle, and let them know that they have your support.

It’s easy for parents to “catastrophize” things. Our teen gets an “F” in math, and as parents, we act like it’s the end of the world. Instead, we need to reassure them that, though we want them to get better grades, it's not the end of the world. Let them know that it’s okay to struggle.

Help your teen realize that it is the very act of struggling that makes us stronger. Help them realize that it’s no more than an opportunity to develop their resilience.

Mindset of Resilience

Your mindset makes all the difference. Whether you see your struggles as the end of the world or as an opportunity for growth depends on your mindset. You can make the decision to look for the growth, rather than focusing on all of the negative.

This means, when you get knocked down, not only do you get back up, but you find the positives of getting knocked down. You learn from it and you grow from it.

Even before you get knocked down, if you have a mindset of resilience, you know that getting knocked down is a possibility, you plan on it, and you plan on getting right back up.

Help your teens understand that we all know that we are going to struggle, so just plan on it. That way, when they get dumped or don’t get invited to the party, or they struggle with anxiety or depression, rather than being surprised and shocked by their struggle, they realize, “Okay, this is a struggle. This is part of the plan.”

Call to ACTION!

The Doors Are Open! Become a Member of Firmly Founded Parents!

You can achieve all of this and more by becoming a member of Firmly Founded Parents!
As a member, you'll get:

🔥 Exclusive trainings for parenting teens in 2021
📅2 LIVE Zoom Calls throughout the month with or certified coaches
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Unlimited acces

Want a Simple Step by Step Parenting Debrief Guide?

Go download the FREE Parenting Debrief Guide.

It’s simple and quick. It will help you uplevel your parenting. And, it’s completely FREE!

Go to benpughcoaching.com/debrief
Download the debrief
Start with your own internal debrief.

Next Episode

Improving your Mental and Emotional Health

"Send Ben a text"

Everyone's Mental Health Needs are Unique

Last week we talked about mental and emotional health and how I define it.

For me, Mental Health refers to:

Mental and emotional well being.
The ability to be aware of one's thoughts, feelings, and how they relate to their actions and results.
The ability to process thoughts and emotions, both positive and negative or large and small.
It's the ability to problem solve and overcome struggles and challenges.

Not everyone's mental and emotional health needs are the same.

There is no "one size fits all" solution.

This is why it is vital that you take the time to figure out your own mental and emotional health needs and wants.

I had one teenager who wanted to increase his ability to sleep at night. He wasn't sure how, but he thought this was somehow tied to his mental and emotional health. (I'll tell you later what he did to go from struggling to fall asleep, stay asleep, and then wake up in the morning to sleeping like a baby all night long.)

I had another client who constantly worried about mistakes from their past. They worried that they had ruined their future, upset God, and they constantly felt like they weren't good enough.

I have parents who constantly worry that their teenager or young adult will do something "too bad" and "ruin their lives."

These are all areas that can be improved by increasing your mental health.

Increase Your Own Awareness

One of the things that I've seen that helps people identify areas where they would like to increase their mental health, is to explore areas of your life that you are unhappy with.
What things frustrate you?
What things seem overwhelming or insurmountable?
What are the things or areas of your life that you are avoiding?

It's empowering to increase your awareness. Rather than ignoring and avoiding areas of your life that cause you discomfort or dissatisfaction, we face them and experience them.

Awareness empowers you to make a change.

Make Mental Health a Simple, Sustainable, Priority

It's important that you don't over complicate your mental health.

Find things that are simple and sustainable for you. They don't have to take too long. They don't have to be hard.

The young man who couldn't sleep at night started doing a 5 minute thought download 30-60 minutes before bed. Within a week he was sleeping better. Within a month he had the sleep schedule that he wanted and only did thought downloads once or twice a week.

The client who struggled with their past actions explored those past actions and found some benefits and positives associated with it. The worked on accepting that circumstances are neutral, and that if there are negatives there has to also be an equal number of positives. Once they found that the past actions were truly neutral, it stopped bugging them overnight.

Some of my clients exercise their mental health by doing physical exercise. Others do writing in journals, thought downloads, or even creative writing.

Some join sports teams or school/community theater.

The bottom line is that YOUR mental health is yours. You get to decide how to take care of you best.

If you're worried about your teen's mental health, be the example. Make your mental health a bigger

Want a Simple Step by Step Parenting Debrief Guide?

Go download the FREE Parenting Debrief Guide.

It’s simple and quick. It will help you uplevel your parenting. And, it’s completely FREE!