Not to be dismissed. Not to be trivialized. Because behind each thought, each feeling, is a story of where it comes from, our body, our histories, our relationships, the world we are moving through.

Sometimes we figure it out and land in a “yes, now I know.”

Sometimes we discover “it’s okay not to know.”

And often, we live in the messy middle, figuring, unfiguring, refiguring.

The task is not to silence thoughts, but to listen deeply:

Do I put energy into knowing this right now?

Do I leave it for later?

Do I ask someone else to hold this with me?

Do I let it go?

That’s the work of processing. Not just in the mind. Not just in emotions. But also in the body, because when “I don’t know” feels like a threat, our body reacts, protects, tightens. And sometimes that very protection disconnects us from ourselves.

And as Frantz Fanon reminds us, our distress is not created in a vacuum. Mental health is not only personal, it is shaped by the weight of colonization, race, caste, gender, poverty, and systems of exclusion that fracture how we see ourselves. Fanon spoke of alienation, not just as an idea, but as a lived fracture in identity created by oppressive systems. To heal is not just to soothe ourselves privately, but to unlearn what dehumanizes us, and reclaim what makes us whole.

And within that, I can also realize how I can cause harm to others. “Toxic” is not a binary, it is not only out there in someone else. Sometimes it is me, sometimes it is you, sometimes it is all of us. Vulnerability is not just about naming my own struggles, but also admitting that I don’t fully know myself, or the other, or the world around us. And in that, all of us are vulnerable.

Not seeking help does not only hurt the self, it can ripple into others too. Because we are interdependent. Our well-being is braided together. Healing is not a solo act, it is a collective, relational, unfinished practice.

So on World Mental Health Day, I hold both wonder and weight.

I can laugh at the thought, “Do flies call us walks?”, and still dig deeper into why some thoughts cling and others drift.

I can admit I don’t know, without shame.

I can stay with the contradictions, with the figuring, with the becoming.

I can hold myself accountable for the harm I may cause, and still remain open to repair and reimagination.

And maybe that’s where liberation begins.