Mental Health
Facing Wildfires and Mental Health Challenges Together
Wildfires, like the ones sweeping through California right now, bring chaos, fear, and uncertainty. If you’re already dealing with mental health struggles, this can feel like too much to bear. But here’s the thing—if you’ve faced hard times before, you might be better prepared than you realize. When It Feels Like Too Much Disasters like this can bring up a flood of emotions: panic, helplessness, or even just feeling completely numb. If you’re finding it hard to cope, you’re not alone. Those of us who’ve dealt with mental health challenges often feel things more deeply—and in moments like this, that
The Power of Visual Prompts in Therapy: How “Parts in Me” and “Emotions in Time” Came to Life
Therapy is often viewed as a space for dialogue—a meeting of minds where healing emerges through conversation. But what happens when words don’t come easily? When emotions feel too overwhelming, abstract, or foreign to name? This was my reality as a teenager navigating mental health struggles, and it’s the reason I created Parts in Me and Emotions in Time—two sets of therapy cards designed to gently open doors to self-expression and connection. A Personal Journey to Emotional Understanding As a teenager, I found myself caught in the grip of anxiety and depression, yet I lacked the language to articulate my
Facing Family Dynamics with Compassion and Boundaries This Holiday Season
The holiday season can be a time of warmth and joy, but it can also bring up challenging family dynamics. Whether it’s that one relative who knows just how to push your buttons or the subtle tension that lingers from past disagreements, navigating family gatherings can be emotionally taxing. The key to managing these situations is to approach them with both compassion and clear boundaries. Here are some ways to stay grounded and take care of your emotional well-being while still engaging with family. 1. Set Your Intentions Ahead of Time Before stepping into a family gathering, it can be
Self-Care: Why It Should Be a Daily Practice, Not an Emergency Procedure
Let’s be real: most of us treat self-care like that fire extinguisher we keep in the corner—important, but only when things are really on fire. You’re fine! Everything is fine! Then suddenly, you’re not fine, and it’s time to pull out that “emergency self-care” kit that’s been collecting up dust. But here’s the thing: self-care isn’t just a fix-it tool for when life implodes. It’s supposed to be the steady practice that keeps you from reaching the meltdown point in the first place. The idea is to integrate it into your daily life, not as some last-ditch effort, but as
What I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Mental Health Journey
When I first started my mental health journey, I had no idea what I was in for. I thought it was going to be this neat little path where I’d figure out my “issues” and magically become some balanced, put together version of myself. Spoiler alert: it didn’t exactly work out that way. In the beginning, I had so many misconceptions—about healing, about myself, and about what it really takes to manage mental health. I wish someone had handed me a guidebook with some brutally honest advice (along with a box of tissues, maybe). But since that didn’t happen, I’ll
The Power of “AND”
In a world that often pushes us to choose between one extreme or another—either strong or weak, confident or insecure, perfect or flawed—it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have to fit into a narrow definition of who we are. But what if we could be all of these things at once? What if the real magic happens in the spaces where opposing truths can coexist? That’s where the power of “AND” comes in. This idea helps us understand how we can hold multiple truths about ourselves at once. We don’t have to choose between
