A Peek Inside

If it were possible to look under the so called hood of our brains, it could expose a lot of vulnerabilities for each one of us. I choose to share my mental health journey for several reasons that are extremely important to me. I share about this because I hope my experience can help others.

Reason #1 is because my mom has shared her mental health journey openly with me and chose to inform me and my siblings about our maternal grandmother’s mental health experience. While times have changed dramatically since my grandmother went through what must have been a nightmare in the way mental health was treated decades ago, it remains is a valuable part of my family tree. My mother is amazingly strong and yet when she was fighting breast cancer nearly two decades ago it opened her eyes to mental health struggles.

Reason #2 is so my daughters and son can benefit can understand what it means to prioritize their mental health. A big part of that is being aware of the generational impact that it has. While I strongly believe in counseling, journaling and prayer as ways to deal with mental health issues like anxiety and depression, I also fully support the advances in medicine that can help to calm the mind to a state of feeling more at peace. There are times when medication is necessary and sometimes it is only needed for a limited period.

Reason #3 is that I want anyone who struggles to understand what they are feeling or how to handle it to know they are not alone. When the need for intervention in the lives of our kids in their mid-teens arose, we opted for counseling first. From there it was our private journey to go through with them. I did not feel we were more or less as parents because we opted for counseling. I knew a third party could see things from a different perspective. As parents we were too close to the situation. It was a necessary step in our experience of raising teens.

On the outside things may look rosey but there’s always more to the story that people rarely show. Don’t be fooled by someone’s highlight real of their life shown on social media. Even the most unlikely people that you see living a good life have struggled. In many cases due to the fact they have reached out for help. If there is one take away from this, know that it is okay to talk to someone. Even if the first step is talking to your doctor at a routine checkup like I did several years ago. It changed my life for the better.