By Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer
“It’s been so busy!” How often do you hear that sentence?! We all have busy lives, for which we must be thankful for. But sometimes we need to take a minute or two to think about ourselves and look after our mental health.
Nerth Dy Ben is a new platform, to do just that, provide an opportunity to chat, share experiences, and most importantly, support each other. Here is Alaw Owen from Nerth Dy Ben to explain more:
“Back in February, Nerth Dy Ben was established with the aim of giving individuals a platform, in Welsh, to share their ideas of what mental strength is, and to talk and share experiences on how to maintain mental strength, whilst living and working in rural Wales.
“Some people may take mental strength for granted, but others find it harder to acknowledge their strengths, rather than their weaknesses. For example, we rarely sit back at the end of a busy day or week and recognise what we have achieved on our 'to do' lists. And how many of us do the opposite and focus on the things that are yet to be done, and even add to the list rather than celebrate what has already been achieved?
“Nerth Dy Ben is there to remind us to shift the perspective from time to time, and to highlight and talk about the things we are achieving and are overcoming on a daily basis. Which we hope, in turn will contribute to a healthy and resilient mindset. Through contributions from different people, we create a conversation that celebrates our ability and strength to overcome life's challenges- whether large or small, and to encourage us to think about the things we can do to make sure the mind is as healthy and as strong as it can be.
“All the content on the website, with contributions from farmers and people from our rural Welsh communities, discusses the mental strength we have as individuals. Those stories vary from person to person, and one of our contributors is Sam Carey, a dairy farmer from Bala, you can read his contribution below.
“Our aim is to continue to raise awareness and talk about the importance of maintaining positive thinking through the medium of Welsh. By sharing the experience and mentality of people within the rural community, we hope it is a way of reminding each other of the strength we all have in our minds, and what we are achieving and can achieve on a daily basis, with that mental strength. What maintains and contributes towards your mental strength?
“If you haven't heard of us, we have a website: www.nerthdyben.cymru which contains unique stories, videos, articles, podcasts and a song - all representing and supporting the aim of Nerth dy Ben.”