Mental Health Awareness Week

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, a week to talk about Mental Health. A timt to bring it into everyday conversation and to help to remove the stigma that still hovers over mental health issues. It is also a week to highlight ways to support your own mental health and to help support those who are struggling right now.

My Mental Health

I’ve always been open and honest on here about my own struggles with my mental health. Especially so in the last four and a half years. When my marriage broke down in September 2015, so did I. Years of trying to hold it together, living with constant anxiety and depression, hiding behind walls, and putting up a front had worn me down. The crumbling of my marriage saw my mental health spiral out of control. For the first time in years, I stopped pretending that I was OK and happy. That was the key to the floodgates opening. The next six months were some of the toughest of my life.

Fighting to stay in control, and to keep my life going for the skae of my children, I was battling myself daily. I was at the lowest poitn ever, my anxiety was crippling and I couldn’t see a way through. Somehow, I stumbled through and six months on I came out the otherside stronger than ever. That breakdown led to a far better me – I believe i had to hit rock bottom so that I could rebuild.

One thing that I found through this time was the power in talking about my struggles. Giving them a voice, speaking my truth, not hiding away, and pretending I was OK. All those things helped. In sharing my story, so many of you shared your stories with me. Finding I wasn’t alone in how I felt made me feel less broken. Knowing that my words were helping others to feel less alone gave me a purpose.

Support yourself

I’ve spent a lot of time working on myself, finding the things that help me, that support my mental health, that keep me running smoothly. I’ll never stop shouting about mental health issues, and making mental health awareness will always be an important topic on this space. I’ll be sharing some posts this week that all fit in with Mental Health Awareness Week, but I wanted to share here a few of my old posts too:

Support your Mental Health – 5 simple steps to help

7 Ways To Help Yourself Deal With Anxiety

10 tweaks I made to my life to overcome depression and anxiety

My favourite eight self-care apps

5 inspiring TED Talks for when you’re feeling lost and hopeless

Ways to help yourself heal