Alla Umanskiy’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2022
Alla Umanskiy shares her thoughts and inspiration for the Jewish New Year.
For a long time, I’ve wanted to write about mental health. And for a long time, I didn’t do it. Why? Because writing about a mental health struggle is taboo in my community. Because we’re supposed to know how to solve our own problems.
Because I’ve been told by people who truly love me – smart, kind people! – that mental health challenges are due to lack of actual problems. Because mental health issues are viewed as “first world problems,” not worthy of true concern. Other people have serious issues – cancer, divorce, unemployment. Mental health, for me, has always been swept under the rug of, “you need to get over it.”
Well, it’s a new year and hopefully a new start! In this new year, I choose to accept and acknowledge that just like physical health, mental health is imperative. I do not want to minimize it, but to accept mental health apprehensions as real and valid.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other host of mental health issues, please speak to a medical professional. Know that those illnesses are as real as any physical ailment and know that you’re not alone. Don’t let anyone marginalize your mental health or make it seem insignificant. Understand that people who make light of those issues, are simply not educated on this subject, or perhaps grew up at a time when mental health was never discussed. Please know that we now live in a different time and remember that help is available. You don’t have to suffer by yourself.
I wish you a healthy and peaceful New Year.
Alla Umanskiy is a crazy mom, decent wife, passionate writer, and lover of sweets who’s living, working, raising a family and binging TV shows in her little corner of Johns Creek, Ga.
comments