When Mindfulness Actually Matters

It's Mental Health Awareness week and I need to get a pet peeve off my chest.

Speaking as someone who was unfortunate enough to be well aware of 'mental health issues' back in the days when it was only whispered about in dark corners, I honestly find it hard to believe we still need a special time to make others aware of it.

To explain-

I fall into the category known as Gen X, which, as I learned through a range of amusing internet memes, means that I was raised on garden hose water, Angel Delight, and emotional neglect.

It's funny cos it's true, as they say.

The Meme Machine broadcasts that we Gen X-ers have backbones so stiffened by falling from climbing frames on to concrete slabs that we have no time for self-pity, gender pronouns, or wearing our diagnoses like a badge of honour. Our eardrums are so hardened by Tiffany: I Think We're Alone Now that we are deaf to calls for empathetic workplaces, and our brains are so putrified by Scratch 'n' Sniff sticker overuse that the idea of mindfulness is nothing but, quite frankly, a ridiculous, self-absorbed excuse for navel-gazing and wokery.

"So why oh why (Auntie Beeb*) do we have to keep harping on about 'Mental Health this' and 'Mindfulness that'? Oh, and if that wasn't enough, we've now got to have a special week for talking about it!"

Except that all that Gen X nonsense, like so much of what we're bombarded with online, isn't the real story.

In March earlier this year The Guardian reported that Generation X in the UK is facing a significant, often hidden mental health crisis in midlife, with higher average distress levels across adulthood compared to baby boomers. Key stressors include the "sandwich generation" squeeze (caring for children and aging parents), menopause for women, financial pressures, and long-term consequences of COVID-19, leading to elevated risks of depression, anxiety, and suicide. 

In my own region, the latest JSNA data from Norfolk Insight shows that 22% of adults report high anxiety, with high anxiety levels being compounded by high reported levels of loneliness in certain rural areas. An estimated 93,000 residents aged 16-64 live with common mental disorders. The 2023/24 hospital admission rate for self-harm was much higher than the national average, and during 2021-2023, 274 people died by suicide, with 78% of these deaths being male.

Certainly Gen Xers like me are often so-called 'latchkey kids'- the first generation with two parents working outside the home - meaning many of us developed strong independence.

However, this very 'tough' trait may mean we struggle to ask for help, leading to emotional isolation. Baby Boomers (parents of Gen X) often get the blame, but they too were taught that the stiff-upper-lip-no-one-wants-to-hear-your-whining approach was the best advice. In Norfolk, our geography of dispersed small villages (and lack of reliable public transport) adds social isolation into the mix too. That makes for a lot of lonely, sad people.

And lonely, sad people get ill. They tend not to look after themselves, eat properly or exercise enough. According to the National Library of Medicine loneliness is linked to a 29% increased risk of coronary heart disease and a 32% increase in stroke risk. It is also a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. As well as costs t the NHS and risks to physical health, there are obvious risks to mental health; loneliness and depression are bidirectional; feelings of being lonely double the risk of developing clinical depression.

But there's hope!

A 2024 NHS article (and many other sources) report how engaging in the arts provides significant mental, emotional, and physical health benefits for adults, including reduced stress and anxiety, improved cognitive function, and increased social connection. Creative activities can act as a "weekly workout" for the brain, promoting relaxation, boosting self-esteem, and aiding in healthy ageing.

And here in Norfolk, my not-for-profit social enterprise, Community Art Clubs CIC , offers a regular, reliable, affordable and inclusive place to make art and make friends, right in the centre of rural villages. Since our beginnings in 2024 our impact is increasing. Currently, we've offered in excess of 120 hours of art tuition and company, creating a staggering 1500 individual art-based opportunities to interact, create, laugh and build community cohesion.

And that's not all. The clubs offer a different art activity every time (yep, I've thought up at least 60 new art sessions in two years and still going), many of which are intentionally 'mindful' artforms like zentangles or neurographics. You can actually see the distance between ears and shoulders increase when people fall into the flow state of putting lines and colours on to paper.

And there's more. Every week someone will shyly produce some art they made at home, inspired by a previous week's club. Taking that mindful art time home with them, into their life and normalizing it- that's when mindfulness matters, and it can't begin to happen in these small and meaningful ways unless people are aware of the need for it in the first place.

Back in my Findus Crispy Pancake filled youth, I was living in a very difficult family environment where extreme mental ill-health was a frightening and well guarded secret. We didn't have the words to express or heal what was happening. I just knew I wanted to get out of the house, either physically or mentally, and the arts in various forms gave me an escape route. With hindsight, my drawings and performances were all valuable expressive outlets; my endless colouring books gave me the gift of mindfulness. And it really mattered.

Nowadays, due to initiatives like Mental Health Awareness week, not only do we have the language to describe what's going on, we have the understanding of those around us, and the provision of services to help.

If only we could raise Mental Health Awareness more, we could help reduce those awful suicide, self harm and depression & anxiety figures I quoted earlier. People would seek help sooner, for themselves or for their friends and family.

Much as can't believe we still need Mental Health Awareness Week, we really do.

Me? In spite of the compulsory Gen X eye-rolling and p*ss-taking, I'm all for it.

#mentalhealthawarenessweek #mindfulness #artforwellbeing

*1980s TV classic Points of View. If you know, you know...