Hopefully, someday, endeavoring to do the inner work will be as highly regarded and respected by society as the outer work. Until that day, we must remember that our mental health is worth the uphill battle, worth every tiny decision we make every day on our own behalf. Therefore seeking help and striving to get better beyond the destructive dialogue our culture and our hopelessness is feeding us is not a sign of weakness; on the contrary, it is the strongest, bravest thing we can do for ourselves.
Archives for October 2021
Today I Asked Myself About The Aftermath of Loss
The immediate aftermath of a death feels something like this: Briefly, when you wake up in the morning, your brain lingers between wakefulness and a dream-state, you temporarily forget the vast empty anguish you fell asleep holding, and if only for a moment, you’re free. This borrowed peace lasts until all at once you’re coherent and—BAM—you’re welcomed to full consciousness by a sucker punch of pain, a daily reckoning reminding you that every new dawn you find yourself alive is another day they’re gone. How much easier would it be to sleep forever than face the full force of reality every morning?
Today I Asked Myself How to Thrive
If you were to graph the course of my life from the last five years up to now, it would probably resemble a strong, steady line, registering only a few slight spikes and dips, but not unlike what I imagine the flight path of an airplane would look like once it’s reached a cruising altitude.
Today I Asked Myself About Postpartum Mental Health
As a society, we need to do better about separating new mothers from the stigma that asking for help somehow also makes them bad caregivers, perhaps by providing a more thorough mental health education, accessible counseling, and available resources during such a vulnerable time, especially to those of us who are more susceptible to the hormonally induced “lows.” We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our mental health for childbirth in the 21st century. Period.
Today I Asked Myself About Grief
I was right when I thought I could never outlast grief, but nowadays, it is not the emotionally inundating atmosphere that it once was. Over the years, I’ve learned that pain is not one of those things you can conquer either, but instead (and only through the grace of time and distance) achieve a deeper understanding of. It is like how winter transitions to spring and then into summer. One day, you’re walking around, and it’s warm outside, but you can’t quite distinguish in retrospect which day was the last cold day.