Wellbeing Walk Leader Michael from @walks.words.wellbeing shares his summary of todays session at Lower Leas Coastal Park and this time was spent down on the coastal path overlooking the Channel.

"Combining Time to Talk Day and Optimist Day, this was an activity to get us talking about Mental Health, is our glass half full or half empty.

Holding a bottle of water at arms length for a minute, the point being it’s not how much water was in the bottle, or about holding the bottle, it was about how heavy something can become when we hold on to it for too long. At any time these two willing volunteers could have put their bottle down, those observing could have taken the bottles away but didn’t. 

After about a minute the bottles were lowered with a little bit of discomfort for both, but for many with mental health problems the bottles are never let go, and the longer they are held, the heavier they become.

Discussion that followed, we all agreed that sometimes we are half full, sometimes we feel half empty and sometimes we may feel full or empty. We agreed that most of us are very good at talking but finding someone who will listen is rare.

Also discussed was that mental health was generational and that older people were more resilient to it, but being outside helped and it was thought more needed to do so if they wanted to relieve feeling depressed or lonely. We were also able to take some very creative photographs and agreed that we all see things differently"

Image credit 📸 @walks.words.wellbeing

#timetotalk #timetotalkday #optimistday
#mentalhealthawareness
#mentalhealthmatters

@kent_downs_aonb