Every week, we’re participating in #totalhonestytuesday, sharing the things we’d usually keep off of social media, and giving a little more insight into our real (and very un-perfect) lives. Hopefully, in doing this, we can all feel a little less pressure to appear a certain way online, and remember that everyone around us is much more than just the highlight reel we normally see.
❤️👊👌 @Regrann from @arieastman – You can consider this a delayed #totalhonestytuesday. So, I'm alive because of these cute lil' pills. Like, seriously. There's still such a stigma to mental health – especially talking about things like medication. Why? Why is it socially acceptable for someone to talk about being super hungover, but it's shame-y to discuss anti-depressants (or other mental health medications)? I don't get it. I feel lucky that I was raised by a psychology professor and human development major, so this kind of shit was always normalized. Asking for help was never taboo. It was encouraged. I was fourteen when I started antidepressants. I did it for anxiety and other health problems, but found it helped me in numerous ways. Fast forward to being 18 and MASSIVELY IN LOVE, I abruptly went off my medication. I thought, well, I'm happy and in love so I don't *need* this anymore. So I stopped. And SHOCKER, guess what happened? I became massively depressed again. It took a long time to come to terms with my brain being wired differently. And because of that, it requires different things. It needs a little extra help. Are there issues with medication and the RX industry? Absolutely. But to shame someone for taking something that keeps them alive is about as fucked up as it gets. You can't pray away depression. You can't think positively and magically fix the chemical imbalance in your brain. Like, ok, I'll just pray your broken neck heals without any medical intervention. That cool? If you struggle, there should be no shame in needing medication. I know, without a doubt, I'm still here because of Zoloft. Here's to you, Zoloft. You my ride or die (because without you…yikes) ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #Regrann
A photo posted by Charlie (@charliejanefarrell) on Jun 29, 2016 at 9:40pm PDT
Today's #totalhonestytuesday isn't about my face or this fancy effect (#sofancy). • • Some thoughts about introvertedness and other factors that affect the way I work. Something I do is that I sometimes delay reading messages – Whatsapp, Skype, email – because to me, it's the same as someone coming up to me and interrupting me when I'm doing something. Some days it's not a big deal when that happens. Other days these intereuptions feel stressful, like ongoing background noise that grinds on my mind and I can't easily tune it out with headphones, because my phone is my space and these messages are in my space. • • I mute conversations, I swipe away the notifications, I let you ring until you hang up. It's not personal, I'm just minimising my "peopling" today. But it's hard to do this at work – it was hard when I had a team under me, it's hard when I'm part of a team that uses Whatsapp and Skype so much. Please can I deal with you tomorrow.
A photo posted by hazirah (@hazm8) on Jun 27, 2016 at 11:03pm PDT
Share your own honesty next week, and join the conversation.