Those were the words our last GP used when doing our medical for adoption.

He asked if I had suffered from any mental illnesses and I answered 'not that I'm aware of'.

'You'd know if you were a nut job' was his response.

Not really the response I would expect from a doctor but sadly not the rare either.

We are starting to get there with awareness of mental health issues and people feeling more confident to speak openly about how they feel but we are still a long way off.

Today is World Mental Health Day, you can read more about it here - https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/world-mental-health-day

We will all have times in our life when we are struggling mentally, it's a part of human life.

It's ok to struggle, we're not machines.  

What's not ok is to feel judged if you want to talk to somebody about it.

If you need help with fitness or nutrition, you speak to a coach - I can recommend a few.

If your computer breaks down, you call technical support.

Each year you take your car to an expert for a service.

Yet we feel stigmatised to speak to an expert about our feelings.

Each year, we run a promotion to support Movember, to encourage men to take their health seriously; particularly their mental health, suicide is still the biggest killer of young men.

We will be doing the same this year.

Something I've realised since the housemates have moved in is that parenting is hard work.

Relentless at times, yet barely anyone talks about the hard times.  Focussing on the 'enjoy every minute'.

It was hard to enjoy the minutes at 4:15am this morning when they were both on a hype but I do understand the sentiment.

However, not talking about the struggles can add to the pressure of 'doing things right'.  

Fortunately, we have a good network of support.  Our bootcamp session this morning could have put future parents off the idea.  

It's ok to struggle in life, in all aspects but please talk to someone if you are feeling overwhelmed.

Help is out there.

Darren 'it's good to talk' Checkley