Mental Health Awareness Month

It is officially the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, and I’ve only now been able to muster up the energy to put together a post about it. Ironic isn’t it? Funny enough, my personal journey with my mental health has felt especially turbulent this month. But I felt that it was important to address regardless. Most of you come to my page for Calligraphy/Engraving or even messages of kindness and positivity. However something I don’t talk about much here is how often I struggle with mental health in my day to day life. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and Depression, after years of quietly dealing with it on my own. Post lockdown, it was starting to feel harder and harder to cope with on my own, so I made the decision to seek professional help and I could not be more glad. There are good days and bad days, but overall I try my best to keep moving forward.

I have always built my business with the intention of sharing messages of kindness and positivity. I am extremely careful not to intentionally add to the negative stimuli we are inundated with on a daily basis. However, with that being said, this mentality accidentally backed my own mental health journey into a corner. How am I supposed to preach a message of self care and kindness when I myself was not taking that same advice to heart? How was I supposed to be a safe space of positivity when even getting out of bed each day felt impossible? The last thing I ever want is to feel like I'm simply exploiting the idea of self care and mental wellness for profit, and not be genuine to the people who have supported me at every step of my business. I have shared the struggles of impostor syndrome a few times, however it runs so much deeper than that for me, and I want to continue to share the not so good days along with the good days.

They always say that social media is a highlight reel, and we choose to share only the most curated versions of our lives. To say that I am guilty of that is an understatement. This has been my own demise. In an environment where only the “big” accomplishments are celebrated, there isn’t much room for living in the present. It is so easy to feel “less than” when you are comparing your day to day with someone else’s “big” moments. At some point, you start to lose hope. You start to feel as though you aren’t worthy of succeeding, and all of the work you’ve put in has been for nothing. Why am I even trying? What do I even want? Is any of this even worth it? The cycle is vicious and all consuming. You feel isolated and alone, even though you know you’re not the only one feeling this. This is why it is so important to keep the conversation about mental health going. So many people choose to suffer in silence out of fear of being a burden to those around them. I am so glad to live in a time when the topic of mental health isn’t considered taboo. I am so glad to have access to the tools and care I need to thrive.

With that being said, mental wellness looks so different for each person, and can even look different with each day. Sometimes that means being able to get out of bed and eating a solid meal. Sometimes it means finally being able to stand putting away the clean laundry that has been sitting around for weeks. And some days that means absolutely crushing it at work and having tons of energy left after. This is your (and mine too!) reminder to be kind to yourself and give yourself the space you need to rest without feeling like you need to “earn it” first. You’re not alone, you’re not a burden, and you don’t need to listen to all of the mean things your brain is saying about you. You are already more than enough.