Mental Health Breakdown Update #3

I will be doing a series every week from Monday to Friday on one topic that screams me to talk about.

All of the posts have led me to here.  For the last number of years, I have been volunteering for environmental groups.  This has been really good for my health, and the first time, I did this was an eye opening and helping me change my whole world.  This has allowed me to see different parts of my country and think of the world in a different place.  I have had a number of jobs in this field as well, and they have been ups and downs with them all.  Overall, my mental health has been great but with anything you do too long, there can be burn outs.  For me, I have understood that when I have burnouts, that I need to change something in my life and the best way is to change something that is bigger then life.

Going beyond that, I had some mental health issues but very small today with my speech that I gave councillors at city hall.  I have learned over the past year, that I actually really like speaking in public, which is super strange as I use to be super closed off and not be able to speak to almost anyone.  I had to step up and give the speech as no one else liked to speak or had enough knowledge to give the speech.  As the speech neared, I think my lack of eating and sleeping made me feel like I was going to throw up before the speech but I was also nervous.  The key, I thought was that I was the last person to speak on the list but then one person was pushed to before me and one more signed up later.  Actually doing the speech, made my mental health go up a notch and I felt that I was super happy afterwards.  Even as I heard one of the councillors ask city staff a question about what I said, and the city staff saying something that was 50% good and 50% bad.  I know that speaking is something I enjoy and should be able to do this more.

Why do you burn out during volunteering?  I feel that I burn out as I get stuck doing the same thing over and over again.  For me, I need to be able to change and moving forward instead of having the same job all the time.  This is one of the reasons, I really like to be part of many different volunteer groups and really push for new elements to happen.  Yet, when I do burn out, I tend to stay in my own mind and be by myself.  I do realize that, I need to think outside the box to wake up my senses to get over the burn out.

Does speaking to crowds of any size, make my mental health shot up?  I use to think that this was the case but lately that hasn't been the case.  The only time, I feel I really have my mental health shot up is when I need to talk to people in a random group of people.  In a setting that is setup for me, and I have a defined role, is easier and I can talk to people in those situations.  The issue I feel is that I can't really go up to people and talk to them and not good at picking the moment to speak in a random group of people.  When these situations come up, I get into my own head and try to walk away from everything.

Is taking risk good for mental health?  For me, seems that risk has really pushed my mental health to the edge which is very good.  Each time, I take a risk, I use to feel really in my head but lately pushing myself into a new career, taking a new job, and taking on speaking roles has made me feel happier.  Everyday, I am taking on new risks and really pushing myself to not worry about my mental health to overwhelm me.  The only thing I still need to learn is how to push myself to take more risks on my own without asking others "What do you think?"  This is something that I am going to do big time this year if I turn my whole appearance femme.

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, please leave them below and I will get them when I have a chance. I would love to hear what other people think.

Please support me via donating on my Patreon page.