On World Mental Health Day and the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week I want to share a little about my own relationship with mental health

I really struggled with my mental health after a miscarriage. I had struggled many times in my life before, but not for as long or as debilitating as this time.

I didn’t tell a soul. Not. A. Soul.

I didn’t have the words back then to explain what was wrong with me.

I didn’t know how to explain the debilitating panic attacks.

The dread.

The nausea.

The fear, “of what?” they would have asked.” I don’t know”, I would have said.

One day it was so, so bad. I reached out to a friend who is an amazing geriatric psychiatric nurse. He would know if I was as crazy as I was beginning to think I was, wouldn’t he?

He set me on the path to who you see today. He may not know how important he was in ,not only my recovery, but my ultimate triumph and thriving over the darkness.

Some people question if my positivity is fake. I’ve had feedback that they trust me less because they are not sure if it is actually authentic.

I. AM. REAL

I’ve been in utter darkness.

What I deal with in my job is all fixable or stuff we can choose to accept. I don’t sweat the small stuff – it’s all small stuff.

Nothing that I deal with compares to the darkness I have been in.

I have learnt tools and mindsets to own and work through emotions and feelings. I work on my sense of perspective all the time. Figuring out – what is fact and what is fear; what is inside and outside of my control; what is worth my peace.

I say what I mean and mean what I say.

When I need help I reach out because I have the words now. I have learnt how to get closure from feelings, thoughts and people who don’t serve me or fuel my potential.

Reach out to an expert. Say “I don’t feel myself right now” and put yourself in their hands.