Floundering, Functioning, Flourishing: My Perspectives on Mental Health
by Marion Hewitt | 7 October 2025
Reflections on Mental Health
World Mental Health Day on 10 October provides an opportunity for me to reflect on mental health, not just as someone who works in the field of wellbeing, but as a person who has lived and lives through the full ebb and flow of mental health.
A lot of my learning and understanding about mental health has come through personal experience and the experiences of those close to me. A lot of it learning and experience I would have preferred not to have had as there have been tough times.
What Mental Health Means to Me
Through life there have been periods when I’ve felt grounded, optimistic, purposeful, energised and able to handle whatever life threw at me. And there have been others when the smallest challenges felt overwhelming, sleep was restless, thoughts were relentless, and motivation slipped away. Mental health isn’t a fixed state, it shifts with our circumstances, environments, and self-care.
For me, mental health is the spectrum of health, from flourishing, when life feels rich with meaning, connection, and joy, through to periods of distress or illness, when we may feel lost, depleted, or in need of help. Both ends of that spectrum are real and both deserve care and understanding.
Mental Health Is Not Just the Absence of Illness
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
In positive psychology, we talk about the state of flourishing, described by Seligman’s PERMA model and achieved through the areas of Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. At the other end of the continuum, the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule helps measure how mental illness affects daily life and how it can significantly limit participation and functioning, often more than physical illness.
We will all have experienced different points across that continuum.
Mental health isn’t about constant happiness. It’s about having the tools, support, and self-awareness to navigate life’s highs and lows and recognising it as something to proactively nurture and protect.
Language Shapes Understanding
The way we talk about mental health matters.
Too often mental health is used interchangeably with mental illness. When people hear the term, thoughts jump to depression, anxiety, or crisis. But mental health exists in everyone every day. It’s not just something to think about when things go wrong.
We rarely hear someone say they are investing in their mental health to describe feeling confident, optimistic, and strong.
Language shapes perception. When mental health is framed only as a problem, stigma persists. People stay silent and we reinforce the idea that poor mental health is abnormal and something to be hidden or fixed.
I’ve become intentional about how I use language. Instead of saying someone “suffers from” anxiety, I might say they “live with” anxiety. Instead of “mental health problems,” I use “periods of poor mental health.” These shifts may seem subtle, but they change tone and remove blame.
When we talk openly about all aspects of mental health we make space for honesty. We give permission for people to say if they are not ok without fear of judgment. And we remind each other that mental health, like physical health, fluctuates throughout our lives.
Breaking the Stigma
Stigma and discrimination remain two of the biggest barriers to progress. Research shows people with mental illness still face prejudice with those experiencing mental health challenges seen through the lens of what’s wrong rather than who they are.
Stigma silences people. We are some way from people feeling able to talk as freely about their mental health as they do their physical health, but we shouldn’t treat them differently. Emotional pain is as debilitating as physical pain.
Breaking stigma means seeing the person before the condition. It means understanding that recovery doesn’t always mean “getting back to normal” sometimes it means learning to live well with ongoing symptoms.
From Awareness to Action
World Mental Health Day is a valuable way to prompt conversations, but it is not about the single date on the calendar. Awareness is vital, but awareness without action won’t lead to change. Real change happens when mental health becomes woven into daily life and organisational culture.
That means:
- Normalising conversation: Making it okay to talk about mental health in the same way we talk about physical health.
- Embedding wellbeing into organisational culture and strategy: Workload, autonomy, recognition, and fairness all matter.
- Building capability: Training managers to recognise signs of distress, to listen without judgment, and to support rather than fix.
- Taking individual ownership for building our mental wellness: Looking after our mental health as we would approach out physical health and fitness.
My Personal Perspective — Then and Now
I’ve learnt that while we can take steps to strengthen our mental health, sometimes poor mental health happens, perhaps triggered by a life event or for no apparent reason at all.
I used to equate resilience with pushing through and being strong no matter what. Now I understand resilience as flexibility and listening to what I need, knowing when to rest, when to reach out.
My mental health is strongest when I stay connected to people, to purpose, and to practices that ground me. It’s about time in nature and being outside. It’s treasuring times with family and friends. It’s about sport and exercise. It’s about sleep and diet. Laughter. Boundaries. These aren’t luxuries, they’re essentials.
I’ve learned that looking after my mental health isn’t selfish, in fact it’s responsible. When I care for my own wellbeing, I’m better able to care for others, think clearly, and contribute meaningfully.
So, as World Mental Health Day approaches, I invite you to take a moment of reflection:
- What does mental health mean to you?
- How do you nurture it, both for yourself and for others?
- And how might we reshape the conversation so that mental health means health not illness?
Because when we broaden our understanding, we move from stigma to compassion, from silence to connection, and from surviving to flourishing.
To me that is what mental health truly means.
#WorldMentalHealthDay #MentalHealthAwareness #Flourishing #Endthestigma
Call 07980 513646 or send us an email marionhewitt@proteasolutions.co.uk