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Category: Friends

Ramadan during lockdown

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Karima, a Jigsaw volunteer gives her story

Friday, 24 April was the first day of Ramadan for me and many other Muslims around the world.

This Ramadan will be different to the many others I’ve experienced, due to the current lockdown situation.

Throughout the month of Ramadan, most Muslims won’t eat or drink between dawn and sunset. This is known as fasting and it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam; alongside Faith, prayer, charity and doing Hajj (a journey to the city of Mecca). Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. As we use the lunar calendar, its date changes on a yearly basis that is based on the different moon cycles.

Exercise and mental health

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Let’s face it, we all know that exercise is good for us. ‘Get active’ is one of the five recommended things to do every day to support our mental health.

Some people don’t have any issue going to the gym and fitting in runs. For others, finding the time, energy or motivation to get out of bed, let alone exercise isn’t easy.

Here we will look at exercise and mental health, how they are related and ways to incorporate it into our lives. Think of exercise as any activity that increases your heart rate and breathing.

In this article you’ll find:

Being the best

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We live in a competitive world, where comparison is everywhere. It’s often present in school or college, on the sports field or in relation to social status.

There can be a focus on ‘being the best’ when we are ranked and compared to those around us.

At school or in college there is often competition, with exams designed to assess our academic ability. Ratings can be compared to every other person our age in Ireland.

Sports can come with pressure and a focus on winning. Even in non-competitive activities, such as the gym, we are encouraged to try to get a ‘personal best’. We might focus on doing more weights or improving our time, in competition with ourselves to be our best.

Online and on social media, we can usually see how many followers/friends, likes, or comments another person receives. We often compare our social media stats to those of others. Looking at posts and wondering why some got more support than others can become a habit. What stories are we telling ourselves about success and failure?

Feeling happy being single

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Being single doesn’t seem like something to celebrate. Relationships are the focus of a lot of the popular culture we consume. 

It can also take a period of adjustment if we recently find ourselves single, through a break-up, or ending a relationship.

Our Instagram feeds are filled with snaps of ‘happy couples’ and #relationshipgoals. There’s a mountain of advice on how not to be single. So, you’d be forgiven for thinking everyone in the world is in a relationship except you.

However, that’s not the case. According to the most recent Irish Census, 41% of people over 15 years-old are single. Yet still, we can feel the pressure to ‘couple up’ and this can be challenging.

Feeling pressure

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Life can feel full of pressure sometimes. Especially while we figure out who we are, what we want, and how we want our lives to be.

Young people who come to Jigsaw often talk to us about the pressure they’re feeling. Some of the things they feel pressure from include:

  • Fitting in – Having to change who they are to be included in a group.
  • Supporting friends – Feeling they have to respond to friends’ difficulties, even when it interferes with their own wellbeing.
  • Conforming – Falling in with an education system that feels unfair and out of line with everything else in their life.
  • Performing well in exams – Comparing results and achievements.
  • Competing and doing well in sports or other hobbies – This can be to the point where they no longer enjoy it.
  • Future plans – Feeling they should know what career path to choose.
  • Fulfilling the expectations of others – Living up to the expectations of parents. Or matching the achievements of siblings.

Porn and mental health

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As technology advances, the accessibility of porn has increased. We know that many young people in Ireland are consuming porn.

The recent My World Survey, a study of young people in Ireland, had relevant results on this. It found that almost two-thirds of young adults had watched pornography on the internet.

Grief and loss in exceptional times

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During the past few months so much has changed in our world. Certain things continue – people get sick, people die, people die suddenly. And sadly, many people have died of Covid-19.

But, everything feels quite different now, when the usual rituals and coming together are no longer available to us. There is no right way to feel or to grieve the loss of someone we love.

However, there might be some things we can do to ease the pain and strangeness a little. Of course, they will be different for everyone and it’s about finding your own way.

The impact of alcohol on mental health

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Ireland has a reputation as being a country of drinkers. It can be difficult to socialise without feeling pressured to having a drink, or three. Some people use alcohol as a crutch to help get to sleep or deal with stress, especially during the pandemic where those experiences are more common.

We know from our recently published My World Survey, young people who do drink are consuming amounts that are damaging to their health.

There are many reasons to choose to drink alcohol. We may feel more relaxed or sociable, enjoy the taste, or other people are drinking. Whatever your reason for drinking, be aware of the amount of alcohol you consume. Make sure you know how it can impact negatively on your mental and physical health.

In this article, you will find:

Cyberbullying

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In the last few years, cyberbullying has become an umbrella term for lots of negative behaviour online.

What is cyberbullying?

Essentially cyberbullying is bullying online, and it can take many different forms. Sometimes it is easily recognisable and others not so much.

It can be 24/7 with seemingly nowhere to get away from it. One of the drawbacks of the connectivity in our pockets is we’re always accessible.

Generally, cyberbullying doesn’t happen in isolation. It tends to be a part of traditional bullying. The bully is often someone known to the person on the receiving end of it. This is even if the activity seems to be done anonymously.

Cyberbullying can take obvious forms such as name calling, putting someone down or abusive comments on posts, images or videos. Then there are less obvious forms, only really felt and understood by the person on the receiving end of it.