A visual representation of the path to growth and transformation
How do you know when it’s time to seek out help with your mental health? For each of us, the picture looks different.
There are the times when it’s really easy to recognise we’re in turmoil - perhaps there’s been a visceral trauma or we’ve hit a real rock bottom, where the signs and symptoms of distress feel obvious - like an earthquake, it leaves fissures in our immediate consciousness. At other times, however, it’s a little more like a tremor, a barely perceptible hum of discontent, that ‘meh’ feeling, not quite able to put a finger on why we’re on shaky ground. All of us go through dips of different magnitudes but one thing keeps us grounded throughout - taking care of our mental health.
It’s my ambition to help people stand firm when the earth moves beneath our feet, to find equilibrium in times of unbalance and to provide working, sustainable solutions to reaching your full potential. With this in mind, I’ve created my More Scale™ - an easy to navigate visual representation of growth and transformations and the challenges that threaten this. This is the fundamental foundation of my More Mental Health community, a space where people can find support through connection, evidence-based techniques and mental health tools.
In this article, I unpack the key stages of this scale, detailing what each stage might feel like to help you identify where you’re at on your own journey, and start to forge out a path for growth. You can use this scale to help pinpoint where you’re at and start to picture your journey to More Mental Health.
The More Scale™
The MORE Scale™ by Janie Loubser helps you navigate your mental health journey more effectively.
If our lives are a series of seasons – springs of discoveries, winters of discontent, summers of happiness – my scale is a calendar of sorts, offering a map of times that we all go through as we try to grow and change. It’s an easy-to-understand, relatable tool that provides a common path, so you know what to expect as you tackle new seasons of your life.
Usually, when a new season starts, we start off feeling excited and curious, but as reality starts to kick in, we might head into a dip, feeling stuck or even heading towards a rock bottom. The good news is that this is completely normal, and I believe all of us will go through these dips at least once in our lives – if we know what to expect, we have a huge opportunity for growth, but without the tools and support, it can be dangerous for our mental health. That’s where More Mental Health comes in, offering a supportive community space with everyday practical tools to help you get unstuck, climb out of your dips and reach your ideal wellbeing, whatever that means to you.
Let’s take a deeper look at each stage of this journey…
Stage 1: Curiosity
At the beginning stages, when we’re thinking of a new career, a new relationship, a change in our life circumstances, we’re curious about the future, so we delve into it. We dream of what our life could look like, we picture our success, and we start visualising a plan to get there.
What it feels like: Excitement, anticipation, exploration/discovery
Stage 2: Action
While we’re still in the honeymoon phase of our idea, we’re full of energy, putting plans in place to reach our goals and starting the work to get there. This is the stage where we start noticing the effects of our plans, and we gain momentum to reach a pinnacle of excitement.
What it feels like: productivity, excitement, momentum, flow
Stage 3: The Dip
They say what goes up must come down and that can often be the case when we’re met with resistance. This is the stage where we might start questioning ourselves or losing that momentum and quickly reverting to our day-to-day lives. At this stage, we might start feeling stuck in a loop, trapped in our core beliefs about ourselves and the space we occupy in the world. The resistance we feel might stem from our subconscious beliefs about ourselves and the world.
What it feels like: delay, distraction, depression, frustration, questioning
Stage 4: Rock bottom
Not all of us will reach rock bottom, but it’s also commonly the recognisable time when you seek out help. A rock bottom is really when something completely unexpected hits you – it’s like the rug has been pulled under your feet.
What it feels like: shock, lack of control, losing all your security, helpless, grief, heart ache
Stage 5: Rut
Often when people feel stuck, they experience it as a rut – when you are living on autopilot just doing what you need to do, but not really satisfied with what you're doing. Life feels hard, we might have no motivation, and we’re not making any progress - it can feel like you are trekking through mud.
What it feels like: resigned, frozen, lack of drive, lack of motivation, frustrated, dissatisfied
Stage 6: Workshopping as a “MORE” Community
When we start work on ourselves and find support, we build up the tools to examine our mindsets, to work with our conscious and subconscious thoughts and beliefs, and practice techniques to move forward. This is the workshopping stage. If we get to this stage, we can start picturing what success looks and feels like, and reflecting on what can hold us back.
What it feels like: awareness, a-ha moments, empowering, challenge, self-reflection, supportive
Stage 7: Get unstuck
During this stage, you’ll start to emerge from the slump and start gaining momentum once again, with that sense of being in a rut fading into your rear-view mirror with the image of your future on the road ahead.
What it feels like: drive, motivation, movement, momentum, catching the flow again
Stage 8: Growth
This is when we’re back on track after working your way out of the dip, rut or rock bottom. It’s a powerful time, where you are able to appreciate the work you’ve put in to reach new heights while focusing on your big vision for the future, and taking tangible steps to getting there.
What it feels like: progress, acceptance, self-awareness, excitement
There’s never been A BETTER TIME TO Take the path to wellbeing with More Mental Health
If you recognise yourself at any phase of this scale, you’re not alone. I’ve created a supportive digital community that you can join on your journey to MORE Mental Health!
Together, we’re making the tools and techniques of therapy accessible and affordable while providing a safe space for connection and wellbeing. With your subscription you can expect exciting events such as workshops and meditations as well as weekly group sessions for working through challenging times, achieving your goals and taking steps to better wellbeing. Consider this your invitation to join: your first session is free!