We recently connected with Angela M Mitchell and have shared our conversation below.
Angela M, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
That’s a great question, and it’s the one I get asked the most! Especially since I had to push past the stigma, and the narrative of being the “strong black woman” that I held on to so tightly. A lot of times when it comes to our mental health we don’t want to admit that the load is too heavy, at least that is what I did. I first give all honor and glory to The Most High, because I had to rebuild my relationship and rely on my Faith. That’s the only way I could see my way out of the darkness I was lost in.
That’s what bipolar depression feels like, and it sometimes seems as if you can’t climb out of the dark tunnel you are in. I was reaching for the light, but I could never reach it. Once I was officially diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and bipolar depression, I learned how to handle the feelings.
Then, I completely changed my mindset. Yes, I know it’s cliche, and the term is thrown around all over the internet and social media, but, those are some of the truest words ever spoken. Once I recognized that I was not going to get any better until I addressed those feelings, I was finally tired of feeling hopeless and trapped and decided to talk to my doctor.
The thing is, I was diagnosed later in life, 5 years ago to be exact. I lived my teen years and damn near my entire adult life struggling with bipolar depression and anxiety, drowning in the lows and self-destructing during the highs. I just didn’t understand or even think about the possibility that I had mental health issues, so the first thing I had to do was identify, and acknowledge that I had a problem.
Listen, this was one of the darkest moments in my life, I was sitting on the side of my bed contemplating taking my life. I was overweight, out of work, in a miserable relationship, and I just didn’t want to be here anymore. I sat there and begged God to save me from those thoughts and the hopelessness that I was feeling, My mind was never at peace, I was either severely depressed from the lows I was experiencing, or extremely anxious and restless because of the mania. There was no middle ground.
That day I decided I was done feeling sorry for myself and I made an appointment with my primary, who referred me for a mental health evaluation. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Depression and to be honest it was a relief to finally understand the symptoms that I had been plagued with for so long. Once I started with medication I was able to see some light, and my life started to change. The thing is, I will always have manic highs and depressive lows whether I take the medication or not. It’s just something I have had to come to grips with and accept. But, I have done the work I needed, the inner work, that has helped me recognize when those emotions are creeping up on me. Since I am super energetic and creative when I am in a manic state, I now channel that energy into creating and running my business, and I rest when the lows come around.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are times when it just doesn’t work out that way and I can’t seem to focus or stay on task, or maybe I’m down in the dumps and sleep the day away. The fact that I recognize when it’s happening makes such a difference in how I can keep moving in my life. I let this disorder keep me down for so long, that I just don’t have any more time or energy to waste on the struggle, and I create my own peace.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Well for starters I am a woman who supports and empowers other women who are living, working, loving, and thriving with Bipolar Disorder to be the absolute best they can be in whatever it is that they are doing. I am also the CEO of Back To Her, which started as a Facebook group for women who are struggling with mental health disorders and emotional overwhelm. I’m a Meta Certified Digital and Content Marketing Specialist, and Brand Marketing Strategist, and I teach entrepreneurs (mostly women) how to use Private Label Rights products to create their profitable digital products and services so they can create the freedom they are dreaming about.
What I am most excited about in my business right now is my latest book, and my first solo anthology project titled “The Art of Womanhood: Fierce, Feminine, Fearless which is set to launch in the Spring of this year. When I originally started recruiting for this book collaboration, I was looking for women fifty and older to share their stories about what life is like when you hit that age. And, although the response was great, I had so many Sistas reach out to say they wanted to join the project, but they weren’t old enough. So, I scrapped that idea and opened the author call to women of all ages, and I am so glad I did!
Womanhood has been under attack, and we have everyone telling us what they think we should be doing with our bodies, our hair, our children, and our lives. We have been told what the world thinks womanhood should look like and we have left the women out of the equation. Nah, I wanted to change that narrative, and share the voices of the women who are out here everyday making shit happen for their families and their communities.
I wanted to tell women’s stories in a way that highlights their challenges, but celebrates their triumphs! I think we have enough depictions of our troubles, and struggles to last us a lifetime. I want to showcase how the strength, reiliience, and Divine Feminine Energy gets us to the other side of the pain and joy, the highs and lows, and the ups and downs of womanhood. There is an art to being a woman, and I’m honored that these ladies have trusted me with their words of wisdom.
I have ten amazing women from as young as their early 30s to as old as their 60s and they all are badass women whose stories are powerful and inspiring. Each one showing how multi-faceted we are, and how we do it all with the courage and grace that can only come from us!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Let’s see. The three qualities that were most impactful for me are first and foremost faith! If I don’t know anything else, I know that if it were not for my faith I would not be here right now! There were times when I wanted to throw in the towel because it seemed like I would be stuck in the depression with no way out. But God…
The next thing for me was connecting with a community of women who were there to support me, and who I could support is well. Entrepreneurship is hard man, and your friends and family don’t really get it all the time, and they get tired of hearing our mess, so it’s great to have that network to lean on.
I don’t have a third one, but I do have some advice for other folks who are juggling life, and all it’s craziness, while trying their hardest to maintain their mental health, and that’s to just focus on what is happening now. There is no going back, and the next minute isn’t promised, let alone another day. So just do you, no matter what that looks like, and despite what other folks think.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am definitely looking for other women entrepreneurs, authors, advocates, business owners, and those who are looking to educate and inspire other women to greatness to collaborate with on different projects that will further my mission of empowering other women to create the life of freedom want.
We push our kids to go to school or get jobs, but we tend to shy away from encouraging them to work for themselves to build their own companies and businesses. I would love to work with young women and girls who want to venture into business ownership to give them the head start they need, that I didn’t have so they can avoid as many of the pitfalls of entrepreneurship as possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bit.ly/dominatein24
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angela_m_mitchell_97/
- Facebook: facebook.com/angiethemarketer
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@angelammitchell
