@Val123 There’s nothing wrong with being sad or even devastated at times. We all have that and that’s part of life. An insane person is one who is always grinning and laughing; then the people in white coats come and take them away! “Haha, hehe, hoho,” as the 1960’s song went.
“Mental health = appropriate emotional reactions in a given situation—then moving on.” Agreed. (But I should not have used the funeral analogy! Groan.)
As for my personal experience: Most of my emotional problems can probably be traced back to age 18-months- to 2-years-of-age or so and certain events that happened to me at that time (details unknown to me, but caused by a female neighbour.) Apparently I went from being a well-balanced, get-into-everything type kid to being withdrawn. From a water-baby to being totally frightened of water. I remember being afraid of being over my depth in school and as a consequence I swim like a rock!
The situation then simply developed where I had no self-esteem, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.
Hence it’s very important to give kids a good start in life.
But these days I have overcome most of these things, and one important thing I’ve learned is always help others. The payback is that I don’t dwell on myself. That is important for maintaining good mental health.
And in my case, a cracked sense of humour also helps. (Think Warner Bros cartoons of the 1960’s!)
I hope your query is now answered.