We recently connected with Mónica Moreno and have shared our conversation below.
Mónica, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? 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.
I’ve been dealing with mental health illnesses for well over half my life now and, with the occasional breaks or transitions in between, have been with at least one mental health provider for almost that long, too. How I manage my current mental health is vastly different from when I was a teenager or even in my early and mid-twenties. Reflecting back, it’s all been an accumulation and eventually combination of ways to live life while having mental illness; a toolbox that was once empty but now filled and ever evolving. And that’s the important part I had to learn and accept. When I was a teen, I thought all I needed was to take medications and then I wouldn’t have to worry about mental health because I’d be “normal” again. Eventually I realized the complexities and realities of what mental illness is and I’ve done what I can to keep growing my toolbox to help manage my mental health. That includes learning how to advocate for myself.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face is learning to be my biggest advocate. When depression first started to creep into my life and I could feel the clouds grow darker and bigger overhead, I knew something was off.
I never knew how big of a challenge it actually would be to learn to trust myself again. Mental illness is such a powerful illness. At times it felt like waves to rocks, eroding me but from the inside. I became accustomed to these crashing waves, the swirling wind shaping me into my new form, that somewhere in all that my voice blended in the background. This was a cycle that was on repeat. Waves and winds were eroding me for years and years so early on when I felt that there was something else going on than just depression and anxiety, I didn’t trust myself enough to fight until I was in my mid-twenties. If I hadn’t fully trusted myself with what I had been experiencing, after finally finding the words to describe them, I might have never gotten the chance to be diagnosed and treated for ADHD. Fighting for that diagnosis grew my toolbox and expanded my ability to take care of myself in general in ways I never could have imagined.
Trust yourself. The mind is so powerful. But it is your mind.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Café with Strangers started off as wishful thinking years ago when I first started listening to podcasts. Initially, I had no idea that I would actually start one and what it would even be about; ideas would come and go but nothing quite felt right. Some years later, the concept behind Café with Strangers began to mold. There is no guidebook on how to navigate life in the United States as a first generation Mexican American. A lot of it felt like a figure-it-out-as-you-go situation and with that came an enormous range of emotions.
And so the memories of those feelings helped to guide the mold of what Café with Strangers would turn into. I am one Latine* person who lives in a country where we make up nearly 20% of the population; I knew I was not the only one who had to grow up translating for their parents while still in elementary school, the experiences of culture shock, feeling like I didn’t belong in the US or my parents’ homeland, religious trauma, sexuality, the struggles of mental health and so much more. There is an immense amount to love and celebrate about latin culture and I definitely experienced those moments, around me and with others, but I never really heard anyone talk about the difficulties of immersion into the USA and its impact. It became important to me to find a way to have our voices be told in our own words. No matter where in Latin America you or your family came from, no matter how different our experiences may have been growing up or living here, someone out there understands you because they have felt the exact way.
I have felt so incredibly honored that people, most complete strangers, have been open and willing to share their stories and be vulnerable. Some guests I reached out to and others have contacted me to be part of this and they get to decide how they want to tell their story and much they want to share. I’ve laughed with them and even shed some tears with others.
The opportunity to talk with so many incredible people is also what helped mold Café with Strangers even further as it grew this curiosity to learn more about other Latin American countries, including the one I was born in. As someone who really enjoys history, this was an incredible way to learn various topics that had to do with Latin America or someone Latine as a way to continue to elevate our voices.
The topics have varied from Mexica (Aztec) mythology to the role of the USA civil war, and eventual genocide, in Guatemala; from the folklore of La Llorona to the career of two Latino congressmen and their impact in this country, including their involvement in the creation of Hispanic Heritiage Month.
Café with Strangers is about telling the stories of us. Past, present and future. And yes, caffeine is involved.
*Latine is the alternative gender neutral version to latino. The word is inclusive to latinos and latinas and can be used in Spanish and English.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My curious mind, empathy and ability to talk non-stop sometimes. All these feel like they came into play when I started this, especially the last one. I am introvert but the times I would get super talkative, I didn’t always have the most positive feelings about how much I talked. My past experiences helped grow the empathy I have and, in combination with being naturally curious, it allowed me to be able to create a podcast like Café with Strangers.
The best advice I would say is trust your gut and be patient. Grow and develop your idea, research and outline it to better plan it. Certain things are OK to just wing it but by knowing how you envision your podcast will help in creating consistency with it. It’s a lot of work but it can also be super fun.
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?
Anyone who is interested in being a guest on the podcast is welcome to reach out to me via email at [email protected] or Instagram @cafewithstrangers. There are no requirements other than you self-identifying in one way or another as Latine, Latino, Latina or Hispanic, etc. and you don’t have to solely identify with that ethnicity. Anyone who wants to be a guest and remain anonymous when sharing their story can do so as well.
Or if you have a background, or immense interest, in Latin American history can reach out as well to talk about creating some episodes together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rss.com/podcasts/cafewithstrangers/
- Instagram: cafewithpodcast
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/70Sx0KtcBlVqMn1uHGACTy?si=363090ea1be8415b
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
