Years of living with anxiety and depression have taught me many things. Some of those things were about mental health, while other things were about myself and who I am as a person. But despite all I’ve learned, I still do things that leave me asking myself one question over and over: Why did I do that?
I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way, but I’m the type of person who always wants to know the why of something. Why did I do that? Why did they say that? Why did I react that way? This question can come from all sorts of situations, and can happen on an almost daily basis. And while there are often simple answers, not every one of them will be satisfying. When it comes to our mental health, those questions can be some of the most difficult to answer.
I remember when I was first dealing with anxiety and depression, and I would ask myself “Why?” all the time. All the time! Why was I sad? Why didn’t I have a reason? Why was I struggling getting out of bed? Every new thing I learned brought new questions about mental illness, or about myself. And I desperately wanted answers.
But sometimes with our mental health, answers can be hard to come by. We want clear explanations, something obvious to point to, for why we feel the way we do. But mental illness often doesn’t give us the response we’re looking for – if it gives us a response at all. So we have to find other ways to reach our goals.
One of the ways I get around asking the impossible Why? questions is to ask myself something more practical. These questions feel similar but they start with a different word: what. What am I feeling? What is happening within my body, in the world around me? What factors might be impacting how I’m feeling right now? What can I do in this moment to help support myself? It was a massive shift in my way of thinking that I didn’t know I needed. Rather than put the focus on something I couldn’t change, I tried to move it to something I could. I can’t control everything that happens to me, but I do control how I react. And while I don’t remember that in every situation, it’s helped me plenty of times.
So this is what I’d like to leave you with today. You might not always know why you’re acting the way you are, and that can be frustrating. But understanding that you are doing it, that there’s a reason behind it, is also important. You can’t solve a problem you don’t know exists, right? Many mental health challenges grow or persist because we’re not able to see the problem for what it is. Asking “what’s wrong?” instead of “why am I doing this?” might sound like a small change in word choice, but it’s helped me shift my mindset on my own mental health. And over time, those small changes can amount to big ones – not only for our mental health, but for our whole self.
CW: This post discusses mental illness and suicide.
One thing I enjoy about this blog is the chance to learn about other people’s approaches to mental health and wellness. Today, I’m sharing an interview with Traci Edwards, who recently started her own digital project, Let’s Get Unstuck, to create an online community in support of others who feel “stuck.”Â
In your own words, how would you describe Let’s Get Unstuck?
[Let’s Get Unstuck] is a space for people who feel stuck and are looking for ways to get their lives back on track.
It’s a safe place to be vulnerable, free from judgement, and supported. A place to share their stories without criticism or fear. To learn from others how to gain back their power from painful moments. How to turn their pain into purpose and power. A place for shared stories to help others work through struggles. I want to find the right voices to tell the right stories that can relate to as many people as possible and pull them back into a place of hope and get them believing in possibility again.Â
What do you hope people will gain from your project, and from your perspective?
Traci Edwards (image courtesy of Traci Edwards)
I want people to gain a true connection with me, but also with other people who share similar values of spreading goodness and compassion to others. I want people to gain a new safe space in a digital community where they can be vulnerable, honest and feel unjudged. A place to tell their truth and to know that they will receive love and kindness in return. My space is not for harsh critics and to tear others down. I also want people to gain perspective from others about topics they struggle with. Tips, tools, advice that helps them through a tough time. I know this exists in more established websites and I want to make this one of those sites, but always upholds integrity and authenticity.Â
If anyone can gain anything from me, then I am doing my part. I had no expectations when I started writing; only that I want to help others through dark times and in return, I can learn something new that can perhaps help me. I want people to walk away with hope. To find their confidence and self-worth again. I want them to know it’s okay to be off track and stuck, that they aren’t alone. I also want them to feel supported which is why I share relatable stories and tools that can help them move toward getting unstuck. I only know what has worked for me, which is what I want to share with everyone.
When it comes to mental health, why is it so important for people to share their stories?
[People’s] stories can very well be the one thing that gives someone struggling another day to live. People really do not fully understand the power behind their words. I literally had a young 25 year old girl write to me the other day asking me for help. She had connected with something that I wrote. I had to explain to her that I was not a therapist but I would most certainly be there to listen. The sweet young woman was unsure about her life as she felt unloved, unwelcomed and unneeded. She was in a very dark place of depression and told me she isn’t sure if she wants to live anymore. The first thing I did was provide her with a group for people that could guide her to the right therapist b/c she asked me for help. Then I just listened to her and asked her simple questions. She was so taken back that I was willing to give her a stranger time to unload and to just be heard. We spoke for a while. She said “thank you that you care thank you”. This all stemmed b/c of a story I shared. That is the power of our writing. That in one moment it captured someone in a way that helped pull someone back from a ledge. That is why people should share their stories. To help others. Bottomline.Â
Why does mental health matter to you?
I lost my best friend to suicide when I was 14 and he was 15. Far too young! Then another one a year later to suicide. Similar in age. Throughout my years, hearing friends lose friends or family members to it as well. Then you see well-known celebrities broken on the inside when appearing well put together on the outside taking their own lives as well. Then recently I lost an ex who I once loved very much to this as well.Â
People feel broken, this world feels so small to them, that pain will not pass and they feel alone. This breaks my heart! I am a person who wants to help, it’s just part of who I have always been. When I see someone I know feeling empty inside I want to be that person to help pick them up. So, when suicide keeps coming up it makes me feel like I could have or should have done more.Â
I personally have been battling with anxiety since my 20s and I have family members with major depression and I see them struggling a lot. It scares me to think that one day they won’t be here because the pain outweighs everything else.
People feel helpless and don’t feel safe to speak about what they are struggling with. There needs to be more compassion in our crazy world, more places to allow for vulnerability and non judgement. All of this is connected to mental health. I want to provide that space! More people should want to provide that type of space.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I started this journey to get unstuck. Now, I’m meeting so many inspiring people who are teaching me (indirectly) how to inspire others. I am not a coach or a therapist, but I do want to become a voice in the personal development and growth space. I feel my story could help others learn to never give up, that there is hope again and possibilities are all around us once we can shift our mindset and be more open. And even in the darkest of moments you will eventually find that light that takes you into your new chapter with grace and confidence. You will reestablish a relationship with your self-worth again and become that driving force that always existed within.Â
What do you say when you feel like you have nothing to say? As the saying goes: “something is better than nothing.”
It’s no secret that lately, I’m not writing here as often as I used to (I’ve actually written about that specific feeling, funny enough). There are a million and one reasons as to why I haven’t been doing so. There is, of course, the *gestures vaguely everywhere* of it all. Living in the United States in 2025 is…well, I don’t actually know how to put it into words. At least, without going on a long rant. If I did, maybe I would have been able to write something here in the past few months! But I digress.
But it’s not just that (although truly, that would be enough). Every now and then, I feel like I’ve plateaued in doing this project. When I started My Brain’s Not Broken, I was in my early 20’s, and just figuring out myself and my mental health. I had more bad days than good, and I felt like the blog was a place to figure out those challenges in real time.
Look, I won’t pretend that everything is all sunshine and rainbows these days. But I am much more confident about how I handle my anxiety and depression, and am confident in the tools I’ve acquired to help me deal with those challenges. I’ve become stronger, more confident, and more prepared to talk about my own mental health, and talk about mental health with other people. I’ve written it countless times on this blog: we are stronger together, and I am so thankful that I can add my story and my experience to the millions of people who experience mental health challenges every single year.
So this is my re-entry to the space. I don’t quite know what I’m doing, and I don’t quite know what my goal is. Since I started this blog, the world’s changed a great deal, and the contributing factors to the mental health crisis in America (and around the world) are much different than they used to be. Smart phones, AI, politics, pandemics – it’s almost hard to even remember the type of person I was back when this blog was started.
But that’s part of why projects like this matter. Because beyond offering tips, tricks, and advice, this blog is a chronology of my life and the major happenings in it. It’s my journey with mental health; my ups and downs, the joys and struggles. It’s captured my unique perspective at specific points in time. There are posts I can turn to when I need a boost. Posts that I’ll look back on and say, I can’t believe I wrote that (hopefully in a good way!). And while I know that this blog has never played the role of an online diary or anything like that, it’s been fascinating to see the way I’ve grown and changed over the years, through what I’ve written.
Mental health – as a topic, a public health issue – as a community – isn’t the same as it was when this project first started. It’s morphed, it’s changed. There have been good aspects to this, and there have been bad ones. We’ve hit milestones and faced serious setbacks; in this moment, it feels like it’s more setbacks than successes. So I will continue to write, and share my perspective on mental health – the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. Whether that makes a lick of difference in the vast abyss of the Internet, I do not know (most likely, no). But as long as I’m in this corner of the Internet, you can count on this being a space that prioritizes those things. Because mental health matters. I matter. And you matter. And these are important things that I never want us to forget.
Well, I’m back! It’s been several months, but I’m excited to be writing here again. I’ve taken breaks every now and then in the seven years since I started this blog; they are often unexpected and unscheduled, and I try to feel things out for the best time to return. In this case, I knew that I’d need to take a few months off from writing. At the same time, I expected to be getting back to it again in 2024, but that turned out not to be the case. And I am learning that not only is that okay, but it’s to be expected if I want to continue this project for as long as I am able to do so.
When I started My Brain’s Not Broken, I wanted to document my journey living with anxiety and depression. I was getting better at managing my symptoms, but there was still a lot I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand the number of ways that anxiety and depression impacted me. I didn’t understand just how vast the stigma surrounding mental health was – a stigma I’ve learned a lot about over the years. And I didn’t have any idea of the journey that writing would take me on.
One of the main reasons that I take breaks from writing is that I believe I don’t have much to say at the moment. As time passes, I feel even more strongly that this is the case. This time, though, was a little bit different. My life has been very busy since August, and I have had difficulty coming up with ideas and topics that I thought were worth sharing. While things have settled since then, I was still struggling to come up with post ideas. But the other day I remembered something that, time and again, has empowered me both in the mental health space, and as a human being.
Coming up with ideas for the blog hasn’t always been easy. Oftentimes, I feel like I am making things up as I go along. But there have also been times where I have been able to write several posts at a time; there have been times where the words pour out of me, where I am more than happy to share my perspective with whomever happens to visit this tiny corner of the Internet. And while I would prefer the latter to the former, both of these things are part of my experience as a writer, a mental health advocate, and a person.
So, like I have been doing for the past seven years, I am going to write what I know. I am going to write to my experience, and I am going to write from my own unique perspective. We all have our own stories to tell; over time, those stories may shift and change, but they are still ours. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and my mental healthy, in writing this blog. But as I have written time and time again, this is a lifelong journey – one I am proud to take part in.
But it’s not just my journey that I write about. According to the World Health Organization, one in eight people worldwide lives with a mental health disorder, a number that rises by millions every year. Despite all the awareness that’s been raised, all the progress we’ve seen, mental health continues to be a significant issue for everyone. We are all impacted by mental health challenges in some way and more we ignore it, the worse things will get.
So now, I am not just writing for myself. I’m writing to raise awareness; I’m writing to bring hope and joy to people who might feel lost and alone. I’m writing because mental health impacts everyone, and has the power to impact every aspect of our lives. The better we understand it, the better we understand ourselves and each other. We are stronger together, we are better together, and we are on this journey together. I’m glad to be back, and I hope you can join me for the ride.
When it comes to problems and challenges in our lives, we all want the perfect solution. We want to know what we have to do or say to make the problem go away. Maybe we can buy a product that helps us overcome the challenge; other times, building a new routine is the way to go. Finding a solution to a problem is a daily occurrence for most people. It happens in every area of our life — and it is especially apparent when it comes to our mental health. But these solutions aren’t always permanent, and that’s the challenge that brings me to this blog post today.
Finding the Right Solution
So, what do I mean when I talk about mental health solutions? I’m using that term to describe all the things we do in our day-to-day life to take care of our mental health. While this includes activities like therapy, exercise and meditation, it goes beyond that. There are smaller choices we make every single day that impact our lives and our well-being, and finding mental health solutions, to me, means figuring out the best ways we can move through our day.
For example, my anxiety can make decision-making quite difficult. I also can feel pressure to communicate with people in the “right way” (spoiler alert: there isn’t one right way, as it turns out), or want to make sure I’m giving someone the correct answer every time they ask a question. Over the years, I’ve found solutions to these issues, both in terms of how I deal with the problem, but also in how I view it. And while I’ve spoken about these solutions in previous posts, it’s just as important to remember how to best approach these solutions. I’ve found that the most important thing to remember is that when it comes to our mental health challenges, not all solutions are permanent.
Embracing Impermanence
Embracing the idea of impermanent solutions is difficult. A permanent fix to our problems would be ideal: you identify the issue, you find a solution, and you make sure that when the problem comes up again, you remember how you solved it before. While that is all well and good for most problems, it doesn’t always work with mental health issues. And that is because not only does our mental health change, but we change. Sometimes, a solution that used to work for us doesn’t anymore. And that’s okay.
Maybe this post is just inspired by the meditation app I use, which places a heavy focus on the impermanence of things. I used to view this approach as troublesome and hard to navigate, but I’ve learned to embrace it. Every moment is different because we change, grow and adapt to new situations throughout our lives.
Focusing on What Works Best For You
But even though most solutions aren’t permanent when it comes to my mental health, there is a freedom in that. I used to think that if I gave up on something (a new mental health technique, a different type of therapy, etc.) when it came to my mental health, I was failing; that there was something wrong with me. I’ve now learned to have the courage and foresight to know that not every mental health tip is going to work for me and that when it stops working, I don’t have to keep banging my head against the wall until it does.
Now I do want to be clear that I’m not encouraging folks to make major life changes or major changes to their mental health plans without consulting anyone. It would not be good to stop proven solutions like medications or consistent talk therapy at the drop of a hat (in fact, stopping SSRI’s abruptly can be dangerous to your physical and mental health). This post serves more as a reminder that sometimes when things aren’t working, it’s okay to explore other solutions. Our mental health ebbs and flows throughout the course of our lives, and it’s important to respond to those changes when they occur.
And though it is likely that not all mental health solutions will work for us forever, it’s possible they will. Everyone’s mental health journey is different, and as long as you’re working to find healthy solutions that work for you, while respecting and being mindful of the people and world around us, you’re on the right path.
As it is Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s a good time to share resources, tips and techniques about mental health and wellness. After a decade-plus of living with depression and anxiety, I am proud of how I’ve learned to manage my mental health challenges. However, chronic mental health issues can mean I sometimes go through my day on auto-pilot, which isn’t great for my mental health. That’s why I want to re-share a few things I turn to when I want to work on my health and build mental wellness. While there are a lot more tips and techniques in this area, these are five things that work well for me. Hope you find this information helpful!
Meditation
My journey with meditation has been lengthy, but I’m finally at a place where I can confidently say it’s part of my mental health toolkit. Meditation has grown in its importance and value in my day-to-day life, and I’d say there are more days than not that I get in a meditation session or two. What I enjoy most about meditation is that I’ve stopped seeing it as a solution to my problems, and more as a practice and way of being. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say meditation is the perfect solution for everyone (I’ve tried it more than a few times), it doesn’t hurt to try!
Exercise
You might already be aware, but physical exercise can play a big role in improving one’s mental health. While it’s important to make sure people have a healthy relationship with exercise and working out, I know that it can also be damaging to only do things when I have the proper motivation (thank you, depression!). Exercising, in any capacity, has the opportunity to give someone a brief confidence boost, raise the heart rate more than it might previously, and make us feel like we have accomplished something. There are many other benefits to physical exercise, but I’ve come to appreciate the benefits to my mental health and wellness more than anything else.
Therapy (There’s More Than One Type!)
Shocker, I know – a mental health blogger suggesting therapy. But I want to go beyond the generic “therapy is good for you” advice and take things a step further. Instead of suggesting that people look into therapy more, I want you challenge what your idea of therapy is. Yes, there is sitting in a room with a therapist, or on a Zoom call with a mental health professional; but therapy is so much more than that. There are several types of talk therapy, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) and so many more. And even beyond that, there are types of therapy that involve activities and movement, going beyond talking and trying to meet the needs of other parts of who we are. I’m not here to say that therapy will solve all your problems, but it is often a safe place to figure out where you can start.
Getting to Know Myself
One important part of building my mental wellness is improving my relationship with someone very important — myself. We spend our entire lives getting to know ourselves, understanding who we are and how we see the world. But there are some things about ourselves that are hard to come to terms with. Maybe it’s part of our personality, or an experience we went through, but all of these things encompass who we are and why we act the way we do. When I think about my mental health challenges, I know that there are aspects of my personality don’t play a significant role in why I deal with anxiety and depression. But those aspects do make up the person I am, and understanding how I see the world helps me understand how it impacts me. I know this might sound a little off-the-wall but the more I’ve focused on understanding why I do things, the more I’ve understood my mental health challenges.
Reflection
Whether it’s through journaling, talking with people or simply sitting and doing some thinking, reflecting on my mental health journey has done some amazing things for my mental wellness. When I reflect on the journey I’ve had, I can see my growth. I can see the improvements I’ve made, and the ways I’ve gotten better at managing anxiety and depression. Upon reflection, I can also look at the ups and downs with a gentler lens that I’d been able to before. I’m not perfect, and I’m never going to be. But rather than chase perfectionism and “getting rid of” my mental health challenges, my reflection leads to gratitude. To being proud of who I am and what I’ve experienced. And it’s that attitude that has made me stronger, braver, and better equipped to face the challenges that I know lie ahead of me. And I know that upon reflection of what we’ve been through, many people reading this might feel the same way.
While these are important ways to build mental health and wellness, they’re far from the only ones! What do you do to build mental wellness in your day-to-day life, and what helps you work on your mental health? Let me know in the comments below!
One of my favorite months of the year is upon us – it’s Mental Health Awareness Month! Held every May in the United States, Mental Health Awareness Month is a month of raising awareness and sharing resources about mental health. It’s a time to educate the public and shed a light on the mental health challenges people face every single day. Together, we are shrinking the stigma surrounding mental illness, suicide and mental health challenges. To start this month off, I wanted to highlight a few campaigns to follow. Regardless of how you get involved, I hope each one of us can raise awareness and hope when it comes to mental health!
Mental Health America – “Where to Start”
Mental Health America, the organization that started Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949, is using the theme of “Where to Start” this year. Per Wikipedia:
“The Where to Start theme was chosen for 2024, with the goal “For anyone struggling with the pressure of today’s world, feeling alone, or wondering if they can feel better, this is Where to Start.”
One of the most overwhelming aspects of mental health challenges is getting help. Mental health is a wide-ranging and varied topic, interconnected to many other areas of our lives. A lot of people don’t know where to even begin to get help and because of that, they never do. This campaign serves as a reminder that there are places to go when you don’t know where to go. There’s always a place to start, and this is a good way of doing so.
National Alliance on Mental Illness – Take the Moment”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness has titled their Mental Health Awareness Month campaign “Take The Moment.” This campaign encourages people to start conversations and have open dialogues. By sharing the vast amount of resources offered, people can find what works for them when it comes to mental wellness.
We are each on our own journey, and finding what works for each individual drives this point home. When our dialogue about mental health is rooted in empathy and understanding, it’s easier to see a path forward.
SAMHSA – Mental Health Awareness Month Toolkit
SAMHSA, or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is an organization that works to highlight the connections between substance abuse and mental health. This month, they have prepared a mental health toolkit as a sort of “one-stop shop” to share information and resources about mental health. This includes social media messages, graphics, and best practices for having healthy discussions about mental health. You can find the toolkit on SAMHSA’s website, which actions and suggestions for posts throughout the entire month.
This month on My Brain’s Not Broken
As I like to do every May, this blog will be a place for sharing resources and information about mental health. In the 7+ years of writing this blog, I’ve seen a lot of growth and improvement in how we talk about mental health. But with everything going on in the world today, it’s more important than ever to check in. Check in with ourselves and our loved ones. Check in with our communities and our local leaders. See who is making mental health a priority, and who might need a gentle push in that direction.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, mental health impacts us all. Mental Health Awareness Month is a time to shine a spotlight on this fact, to learn to live in a happy and healthy way. Sending positive thoughts and vibes to everyone as we continue to shrink the stigma!
You know, it’s funny. You would think, after ten years of living with depression, of experiencing it on and off, I’d have a better understanding of it by now. Some days I feel like I do. I feel like I understand why I’m experiencing symptoms, or I know exactly what I can do to alleviate these symptoms and feel better. But other days, it’s like I’m dealing with depression for the first time. Maybe that sounds like I haven’t learned much about depression, but I’d disagree. For me, there’s a difference between learning about depression and learning about how to deal with my own depression — and that’s what I’d like to talk about today.
When I first learn about a new idea or concept, I love to take in as much information as I can. I don’t know if this is the most helpful way to learn, but it’s my instinct to cast a wide net. Early on in my journey with depression, I cast as wide of a net as I could. I read books, listened to podcasts, watched videos, and tried to glean as much as I possibly could about what it’s like to live with depression. And even though I learned a lot that was helpful, I was also overwhelmed with the amount of information and experiences that exists. Not all the information I learned worked for me, and I got frustrated quickly.
I’ve written about this on the blog before – when it comes to dealing with depression, what might work for me might not work for you, and so on and so forth. But this isn’t simply a message of finding what works for you. What’s gotten me frustrated lately is to see how my depression has changed and adapted to the changes in my life as I continue to move through it. The intrusive thoughts have changed course, attacking different areas of my mental health. The things I was insecure or anxious about at 20 years old aren’t the same things that exist today, and my brain knows that. The symptoms of depression may not change for people over the years but sometimes, it feels like they come from everchanging sources.
At some point in talking about depression, I realized I had to change my focus. Instead of learning as much about the topic as I could, I needed to learn more about myself. I needed to learn about my instincts, my habits, how I dealt with success and failure. I didn’t really know myself, and that lack of self-knowledge was a barrier to mental wellness.
That’s not to say any of this is easy; getting to know ourselves is a life-long journey. We’re constantly growing and changing, and so is the world around us. This is all to say that what’s true for us one day might not be true a few years down the road, and that’s okay. The better we come to know and understand ourselves, the better equipped we are to deal with the mental health challenges in our lives. I know that despite everything, I am better equipped to handle my depression than I did ten years ago, and that fact gives me strength for the present and hope for the future.
I’d love to hear from you on this topic! Do you think the way you experience mental health challenges changes over time? What tips or techniques have you done to help improve your own mental health? Let me know in the comments!
There are several symptoms of depression that can make life challenging. Whether these impacts are on our physical health, our mental health or something else, you don’t always know how these symptoms will impact you in your day-to-day life. After years of living with depression, one thing I’ve come to realize is that my experience with depression has a massive impact on the way I see the world. And even though this impact has done a world of good in some areas, it has a negative impact in others. Today, I’d like to reflect on an unintended impact of my depression that I’m hoping to shift my thinking about.
As someone who lives with anxiety, my brain often feels like it’s moving a million miles per hour. I think we all feel this way at one time or another; we have so many things to do, and it doesn’t seem like there’s enough time to do it all. I’ve noticed the themes of relaxing and slowing down on my posts in recent months, and I think that’s a response to my current state of being. I always deal with the challenge of a busy mind from time to time but lately, I feel like it’s a daily struggle. Why is my brain trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once? And what can I do about it?
My Brain's Not Broken 