As the prevalence of mental health issues increases and affects an ever larger number of our friends and family, it becomes essential that we create spaces for folks to talk about how they overcame or persisted despite mental health challenges. Here, we’ve tried to create a safe space for people to come together and discuss their stories, experiences, triumphs and failures with managing their mental health issues.
Liz Ferron
In a bizarre way, self loathing is a huge motivator. I have had many PTSD-induced, traumatic events occur in my life, I always figured it was because of me. I brought it all on. This, in turn, caused anxiety, depressive episodes, self-harm, self-medicating & self-destructive behavior. Once I did some work on myself & realized I am the ONLY one who can make me better.. My life, my choices & my living situation… all turned around once this realization took place in my mind. Read more>>
Rae Mason
In my teenage years, I got into a relationship that masked itself as love but soon revealed its true, abusive nature. Silenced by fear and shame, I kept the torment hidden, enduring not only physical but also mental and financial abuse. At 17, I found myself entangled in a web that seemed impossible to escape. Read more>>
Asher Phoenix
My dance with mental health began when I was only seven years old, struggling with anorexia and what was later diagnosed as CPTSD. The environment in which I grew up was not conducive to authenticity or creativity, let alone my mental well-being. Looking back, I understand that my caregivers did the best they could with what they had, however, their lack of empathy and acceptance set me up for what has now been a nearly 2 decade battle with mental illness. When I was 15 years old, my lack of understanding of my mental illness lead to me taking a swipe at my own life. Read more>>
MICHELLE KIM
I overcame challenges related to mental health issues with a lot of self reflection through journaling and reading, along with therapy and energy healing. My mental health has been impacted by complex post traumatic stress disorder due to my upbringing, and it’s been a tremendous year of awareness and healing. One of the consequences of CPTSD is feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed by tasks of any size. Read more>>
James Restivo
I have social anxiety. It took me years to understand this. Generally, I enjoy being around people and I enjoy social situations. But there comes a point during most social gatherings where I start to feel panicked and like I need to leave immediately. I have left immediately in some cases. Most of the time I would pass it off as it getting late, or I would say to myself that I wasn’t having any fun and needed to go home. Read more>>
Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq
This is something I’m still working really hard on. Thankfully, I’ve come to a place where most of my creative and business pursuits are a form of meditation, or prayer. I sometimes find myself frustrated if I haven’t found time to carve some time out for crafting. Self reflection and therapy have helped me combat negative thought patterns which do nothing but drag me down. It can be easy to spiral into a place where you feel worthless and that your art has no place in the world. Read more>>
Jasmine Renee’ Ellis
Mental Health in my family is still a kind of taboo. We know it exists in the bloodline, has been there for awhile, and we are seeing it surface in the next generation. I noticed in even the quietest and “safest” rooms I would feel overwhelmingly nervous, though at the time I did not know that I had anxiety. I was 10. I had a severe studder so I already wanted to avoid communicating and I was raised to not voice my opinions even if it was to express my feelings were hurt as it was seen as a sign of disrespect or even disregarded altogether. My father was absent most of the time and continued to be until his passing. Read more>>
Laura Carr
As I reviewed the questions something that stood out for me is that some questions are posed in the past tense. For me, rarely is anything ever finished. Content maybe, but never process. I integrate the spiritual into everything that I do. For me, that is Buddhism. But it doesn’t matter what spiritual is for anyone else. It is my experience that everyone and everything is spiritual given that we are sentient beings. The way I practice is to look for the process that is occurring with whatever content is currently presenting a challenge. Read more>>
Anna Martinez
It is hard to know how to begin to answer this question. I was diagnosed with OCD in 2020. I have struggled with this my whole life; not knowing exactly what was going on in my brain. It was a relief to finally find out why I have felt discomfort most of my life. Some days are very much harder than others. There is a very stereotypical view of OCD. But, the truth is OCD comes in many shapes and forms and can often be misunderstood by people. I have not overcome this issue. It is something that I face daily and even though it is very difficult; I have to choose to persist. Read more>>
Jenna Irene
Bonjour! This is a tough question and would be for any person: artist or not. However, I want to answer this because there’s still SO many people who are struggling with mental health silently and are afraid to reach out. It’s heartbreaking. This is a HUGE reason why I wrote my song “RISE” in the first place, I wrote “RISE” on my porch during the Covid pandemic in 2020. I was feeling sad, scared and lonely like everybody else because I know the pandemic wasn’t just affecting me. Covid was universal and affecting everybody physically and/or mentally. Read more>>
Mason Summit
Therapy and psychiatry have been invaluable to me for a long time. I struggle with OCD and medication has been essential in dealing with it. Unfortunately, these are luxuries in the United States, and I realize I am incredibly privileged to have had access to mental health care when I’ve needed it. Read more>>
Sean Fontenot
How I overcome a creative block is I enjoy life. I go out and I do things that I enjoy and that I want to do and normally when I do that, ideas come to me. I’ve learned to not try to force things. There have been times where I’d have to stop a project, take a break, maybe play a game, or watch a movie and then I come back more inspired because I see the inspiration of other people’s work. There’s nothing wrong with taking breaks. There’s nothing wrong with taking your time. Read more>>
