One of the most exciting things I’ve experienced was watching my niece learn to walk. It didn’t happen overnight; there was a long time of her getting comfortable at different stages of scooting, standing and moving, but one day it all came together, and she hasn’t stopped moving since. I thought about her today because it made me realize just how important those little steps are – a fitting metaphor for dealing with mental health challenges.
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What Does Depression Look Like? More Than You Think
Recently, I came to terms with the fact that I’ve been experiencing a tricky bout of depression for the past month or so. It wasn’t easy to spot, and even though I’ve lived with depression for almost a third of my life, I couldn’t recognize it for a long time. However, it took putting some dots together (and a very patient partner who gives as much support as she can) for me to realize I was living under a fog of depression.
Continue readingMental Health Breakdown: What is Compartmentalization?
Language is one of the most important aspects of mental wellness, and how we talk about mental health can go a long way toward shrinking the mental health stigma. This recurring feature on the blog will tackle different words and phrases that I use when talking about my mental health. I know that other people use this language as well, and defining some of the more relatable terms can help others understand what it means, instead of having to explain it constantly. Today, I’ll be talking about compartmentalization.
Continue readingWhat Constant Failure Teaches Me About Mental Health
In the past few months, I’ve gotten more ambitious with how I plan. I’d read a book earlier this year about prioritizing your time, and it caused me to reflect on how I spend my free time. I know I’ll never get the absolute most out of my free time (who does, am I right?), but I know mental illness can create further issues when making time for myself. Because of that, I’ve tried to be more intentional and forward-thinking about what I do in my free time, which has led to a lot of good experiences I normally wouldn’t have had. However, it’s also led to failure – failure to stick to a plan or to try something new, or failure to do anything I’d set out to do that day. But it’s the failure, and what that’s taught me, that I want to talk about today.
Continue readingFive Reminders For When You Feel Restless
In the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling a little more restless than usual. I’m not sure what’s brought on these feelings, but I was able to recognize that they’re something that can be dealt with and managed – just like the symptoms of anxiety and depression that I experience every day. I haven’t discovered my go-to techniques and activities for dealing with restlessness, but I have learned a few things that have helped me overcome these feelings. That said, here are five reminders for when you’re experiencing restlessness.
Continue readingWhy We Need More Than “Checking In On Your Friends”
TW: This post discusses suicide and suicide-related topics.
Continue readingWhy There’s No Wrong Way to Ask for Help
The more I learn about depression, the more I come to terms with the fact that there will always be more to learn. In fact, it’s likely that there’s so much more I don’t know about my own depression than what I’ve learned over the past decade. I write that to say when we talk about mental health, knowledge certainly is power. But sometimes, it can also be something that leads to shame and stigma. Even though depression is complicated to understand and difficult to unpack, there is no shame in experiencing it. But reducing the stigma around mental health is so much more than saying that – it’s also encouraging difficult conversations that unfortunately, most people don’t want, or don’t know how, to have.
Continue readingModifying My Approach to Therapy
I’ve been to…a decent number of therapists over the years, and though I’ve found short-term success with a few, I’ve never been able to find long-term success. Part of that is the transitions I’ve made in life (high school to college, and then college to post-grad can make that difficult), but part of it is also that I had no long-term goals with therapy. I didn’t always know what I was doing with therapy, but I few years ago I made a goal for myself to create a more sustainable and reliable approach to therapy, and I’m proud to say I’m close to achieving it!
Continue readingMental Health Can Be A Positive Term
By and large, writing about mental health isn’t a “fun” activity. A lot of the experiences I write about are challenges that I or other people have faced in the past. Most of the research I do is to signify to others that mental illness is a concern for people of all ages and demographics, and having honest discussions about that will help shrink the stigma and help people get help when they need it. Since I experience depression on a weekly basis, I understand how my attitude toward mental health and wellness can be a little pessimistic, so I’d like to turn that around today. Depending on the context, mental health can absolutely be a positive term – and here’s how we can do that.
Continue readingDigging Into the Mental Health Toolkit
I’ve written about my dislike for wintertime before, but a new thought popped into my head as to why this time of year isn’t great for me. We know about seasonal affective disorder, shorter days and colder nights and all that, but there’s another big reason that I don’t love this time of year. I have several activities and hobbies that I do that relieve/help me manage my mental health challenges, and the winter is one of the most challenging times because it limits what I can do.
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My Brain's Not Broken 