My Mental Health Story! | Tips to cope with anxiety! | Mental health awareness month! |

Hey everyone I hope you all are doing well. May is national mental health awareness month so today I decided that I would share my experience with you. 

My experience with mental health! 

        First off I just want to say that everyones mental health experience is different, I'm also not a doctor so everything I'm mentioning just strictly goes off feeling, and my experience. I mainly just want to share my story. 

       I feel like I've always struggled with mental health in a way. I guess when I was younger I was more carefree and happier. I really noticed my mental health when I was 20. When I was 20 and a sophomore in college I felt like I had anxiety. If you looked up my symptoms I had like almost all of the signs. I'm generally such a happy person, but at that time I was going through a hard time. I remember feeling like I was in a dark place. I felt like my heart was always racing among other things. My heart racing was not out of the ordinary for me since I have a heart condition (VSD aka a hole in my heart). I went through a bad experience with a roommate. It was so bad that my parents let me stay home on weekends from Friday to the following Monday morning just to get through that semester. I also have what I feel like is bad social anxiety. I always struggled with answering the phone and making phone calls. I also find now even to this day I hate small talk. I can talk fine with friends, but people I hardly know I'm just shaky making small talk. I even find professors at school that I like I even can't meet with. Recently I've been pushing myself more to do things and my anxiety hasn't been as bad, but I'll get to that.

        Last year ( the spring 2018 semester) was my hardest year. I was going through I guess some life changes (not by choice) that I won't be in depth talking about. This experience just isn't something that I want to disclose or even talk about. I feel like all my struggles from last year I have moved past. Basically at that time I was feeling depressed. I remember the big thing for me was that I would go to class and then do my work. I never let myself have fun. I would do things that I liked, but I never went out. Also at that time I was on accutane, but I didn't realize that I was depressed until after I was long done with taking that medication. I was also on birth control at the same time so I think maybe the two could have messed with me. That is also something I will never know, but I'm happy to be where I am now. Dealing with anxiety, depression, or whatever it is is hard. That is something that simply I would never wish on anyone. I just have to say simply if your going through something right now I'm sorry. Also know if you ever need to talk to someone I'm here. Feel free to tweet me dm me on instagram. I'm happy to be here for anyone that needs help and I'm especially happy to just listen. 

My best tips for coping with anxiety/mental health 

       1. Talk to someone

        I know this might be really hard, but reach out to someone. Like I said before if you need someone to reach out too I'm more than happy to listen and talk to you. Just reach out to anyone wether if it's a family member, friend, teacher, an adult you trust, or health care professorial. Just reach out to some and talk to them. Sometimes all you need is to talk, and that's a good place to start.

2. Stay off social media 

        I know this is something that is hard to do, but it will be very beneficial to you in the end. I find the times when I'm most anxious that when I put my phone down my anxiety starts to calm down. Although I do social media as a hobby and in a way it is almost essential to my life, it is ok to take a step back from it sometimes. I think limiting yourself, and knowing your limits is one major thing that you should pay attention to. It will defiantly help you in the long run. 

3. Talk to your doctor 

        I think if it is really something that takes over your life talking to a doctor or mental health professional might be the right step. This isn't a step I have personally taken, but I know people who have, and recommend it. I personally have always avoided this kind of step, but I think if I ever got to the places I was before I would definitely seek this kind of help. 

4. journaling 

          Bottling your feelings up is never a good idea. I have always loved journaling. I always have a journal or two with me. If your feeling any bad feelings or if your head is just at overload, get yourself a journal to write everything down in. I think this is a good thing to do especially if your not ready, or if you don't want to talk to anybody. I always find my journals at Marshalls for such a good deal and they have the cutest ones. I also recommend getting a daily journal that maybe has prompts if you can't find the means to write something down on your own. 

5. Essential oils

I love essential oils. There are so many that are good for mental use too. My favorite oil is lavender. This is my most used oil I would say. I put it on my pillow at night to sleep and I love breathing this one in. This really helps me calm down. I also know a lot of people love the essential oil pens, but personally I haven't tried those out for myself yet. I also love my oil diffuser that I use all the time. it's one of my favorite things. 

I hope my story helped you guys in any way. I really wanted to share my story in the hopes that I could even help one person. If I can do that then I feel like I've even accomplished a lot. Just remember if you need anyone to talk to I'm here. Be sure to follow all my socials they are at the very bottom of the page. Also be sure to subscribe to my blog the button is at the top right of my page. 

Thanks for reading, have a great day!
XOXO -Katie