When survival mode takes over, you can ignore it until one day, it blows in your face, and there is nothing to do about it other than finally sit with those emotions, and mental pressure you suppressed for years.

Mind & Mental Health by Ana-Maria van der Salm

I often hear people saying, “Mental health is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.”

But let’s be honest. When you are trying to feed your family, your job is draining you, but you cannot afford to quit because you need to pay your bills. When survival is louder than self-care. Mental health can feel like a luxury.

If your priority is putting food on the table, paying rent, or keeping stability for your children, pausing to reflect on your emotional state may seem unrealistic. Especially when no one ever taught you what mental health actually is.

How can you protect something you were never taught to name?

For many people, mental health only becomes visible when everything starts breaking down, relationships, motivation, clarity, and even the body. And sometimes the roots go deeper in our past than we realize.

Growing Up Without the Language for the Mind

I grew up in Romania during the last years of communism. For me, that meant:

• Oranges once a year, at Christmas.
• Milk and bread were bought with ration cards.
• Standing in queues daily.
• We were not alowed to attend church.
• No freedom to choose my religion.
• No space for open conversations.
• And no “I love you.”

There was affection in my family, but not the words. My parents cared, but they were also cautious. I still hear my father’s voice: “Be careful what you say. And with whom you talk.” When a society teaches you to filter your words, you learn to hide your emotions as well.

The basic human need for Safety was met through control.
The need for Identity was shaped by limitation. I learned to adapt, to survive, and not to question too much. Mental health was not discussed. It was not even a category of life back then.

So, of course, later in life, I, like many people, struggle without understanding why. They feel broken, but cannot name the fracture.

A Seed at the age of 14

When I was 14, something changed in me. It is also the age at which we get our IDs in Romania.

I heard a cousin speak about a different way of living:

• Eating healthy.
• Living balanced.
• Meditating.
• Embracing spirituality.

It felt revolutionary. While my classmates were discovering parties and discos, I spent my summer reading the Bible – from beginning to end. I don’t know if I understood everything. But I was proud that I did it. One teacher had encouraged us to read it during summer break. I was the only one who did.

At 14, I began exploring:

• Healthy eating.
• Relaxation for the body and mind.
• Spiritual awareness.
• Reflection.

I did not know then that decades later I would travel across cultures, adapt again and again, and rebuild identity in different environments. But looking back, that season built something strategic inside me. It built inner alignment.

Peace has become my new measure of value. I pay attention to how someone’s energy feels more than what they have to offer. Consistency, calm, and emotional safety can’t be faked or bought. The people who bring ease instead of tension, who show up with sincerity instead of ego — that’s wealth in its purest form.

Mental Health as Strategic Self-Respect

Over time, I realized something important: Mental health is deeply connected to boundaries. The need for Realistic Limits is not a weakness; it is protection for ourselves and others. They are my property line as a person.

I learned that:

• Not every environment is meant for you.
• Not every job deserves your peace.
• Not every conversation should be tolerated.

I have worked in places that disturbed my inner peace. I have stayed too long in rooms that drained me. But I also learned that when someone consistently disturbs my inner peace, I need to walk away to protect what I’ve worked hard to build. This is not emotional fragility; it is maturity and discernment.

In business strategy, we talk about alignment, positioning, and long-term sustainability. Why would we not apply the same principles to our minds?

If your mind is exhausted:

• Your decisions become reactive.
• Your leadership becomes defensive.
• Your creativity narrows.
• Your relationships suffer.

Peace of mind is not passive. It is a daily discipline.

I once met an Emirati woman who told me: “When I understood that my body is God’s temple, I became fully responsible for what I allow inside it – food, thoughts, people.” That sentence stayed with me.

If we see ourselves as stewards — not owners — of our lives, then mental health becomes responsibility, not luxury. You get to choose:

• What king thoughts enter your temple.
• Wich environments touch your energy.
• What conversations you engage in and tolerate.
• What are the boundaries you set.

Take away

Wisdom is knowing what aligns. Maturity and discernment is having the courage to act on it.

Mental health feels like a luxury only when survival controls your choices. But long-term sustainability — in leadership and in life — begins the moment you treat your mind as something sacred to steward, not something to sacrifice. You were not created to live in robotic survival mode. You were created with intuition, spirit, intelligence, and identity.

Protect your inner peace. Respect your boundaries. Choose alignment over pressure. Mental health is not about escaping responsibility, but about leading yourself with wisdom.

More on mental health in business and healthy leadership, here.

Until next time,

Ana Maria