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Growing up, I was always SUPER hesitant about talking to adults about my mental struggles. As I got older, I became more comfortable with openly speaking about my mental health, though I think the most important thing to remember is to choose to speak to someone you are comfortable with. Even if those people aren’t your parents or caregivers – that’s okay! I’ve had some even better conversations with teachers and professors than I have with my own parents. Therapy has always been a great way for me to open up because I know my therapist will not judge me and will give me up biased advice and opinions.
I’ll leave you with this, even if you have a bad experience talking to an adult about your mental health issues, do not vow to never speak up again. I promise, there is always going to be someone trustworthy that you will feel comfortable talking to.
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Romantic relationships are something I struggle with a lot because my anxiety ALWAYS rears its ugly head. I hate putting too much pressure on someone I am casually seeing, but it causes me so much anxiety not knowing if they are interested in a long-term relationship. I find it is even worse if someone I am seeing also has anxiety because it seems like we are just a bundle of nerves. Does anyone have advice on how to alleviate my anxiety about the unknown, but not coming off like I am pressuring the person I am seeing to fully commit?
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I definitely have noticed that social media can poorly contribute to my mental health. I often fell victim to comparing myself to other posters or feeling like I was not experiencing the same “glamorous” lifestyle as other people. One thing that REALLY helped me was being open on social media about my struggles. I occasionally post the “unglamorous” moments of my life with a note reminding others that someone’s life isn’t just what they post on social media – everyone struggles whether they share it or not. I have gotten such positive feedback from people about being “real” with my daily struggles. This has helped me to stay true to myself because I feel like I am making a difference in people’s lives. Another thing that helped me recently was Instagram adding the option to hide like counts on posts. I used to be OBSESSED with the number of likes I got on pictures and would feel embarrassed if the number was small because everyone who follows me could see the minimal likes as well. Now, I always enable the “hide-likes” feature and it has helped tremendously as now I don’t even think about like counts at all! It is good to see that social media platforms are becoming aware of how their platforms affect people and are providing options to alleviate some of the stress.
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After feeling quite alone in my mental health struggles, I was saddened, yet somewhat relieved to learn there have been mental health issues on both sides of my family. I was sad because I would not wish my struggles on anyone else, but also a little relieved to know I wasn’t “weird” or alone in my struggles. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health diagnoses in my family, which is also what I struggle with. Learning more about my family’s mental health history has allowed me to open up to some close family and discuss our struggles so we can support each other in our daily lives. It’s comforting to know you have someone who understands you and knows what you are going through.
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