Mental Health is Chic

Hello, Hi, Howdy!

So, I want to talk about something special today. We all know I love affordable fashion and getting the best deals on the things I love. With that being said…let’s talk about something we all need to love, ourselves.

Mental health is one of the most affordable things you can invest in and today I want to talk about my mental health journey and how I have managed my anxiety and depression in the last couple of months– affordably.

Let’s get to it:

I recently graduated from college and started my first career and I thought I had everything planned out. I was living in a city with my best friends, I was in a loving relationship, my career was exciting and more than anything…I could afford my rent (heck yeah baby, self-sufficiency!) And yeah– you would think all of those things would make me so happy.

But I started feeling trapped. The plans I made for myself started to go down different paths and I started losing myself in my anxiety. Then, I had a death in my family, my mom got sick, my boyfriend broke up with me and my career constantly stressed me out. So the anxiety I was feeling before all of this– tripled.

It was so weird because I could rationally tell myself: I have best friends and family who love me, I am healthy, I am making big career moves and I can still pay my rent! Even through telling myself all of that, I wasn’t happy. I realized that I was struggling with anxiety and depression on a different level than I have ever felt before.

SO: I’m now writing this blog post because I know I’m not alone in feeling unsure of myself. I’m not alone when I feel like my world is crumbling beneath me and don’t know how to pick myself up. I know I am not alone because we’re ALL out here hustlin’ day in-and-out to be our best selves and sometimes we need a little help to get there.

Investing in yourself is THE most affordable thing you can do because you can’t put a price on happiness. Despite my sadness, I realized I had to pick myself up and find things in my life that made me happy.

This is where my advice comes in! Now, I’m not a licensed therapist…but since Ariana Grande dropped the banger “7 Rings,” I figured I’d drop my 7 ways to affordably improve your mental health.

Download a meditation app on your phone. Simply taking two minutes to check in with your breath when you’re feeling anxious can help reduce your anxiety so much. I use the anxiety helper app to deal with my anxiety and it rocks! Fun Fact: This app was created by a badass 16 year-old named Amanda Southworth who personally struggles with anxiety and depression. She’s an actual genius and is incredibly talented. Her app gives you multiple different tools to help cope with anxiety, depression and much more. Download it here.
Write/draw about how you’re feeling. Now, I totally understand that not everyone likes to write/journal/draw, but I’ve found that expressing how I’m feeling on paper (instead of keeping it trapped in my mind) is so helpful. I have a journal that I’ve been writing in for over 5 years and it’s so incredible to see how my perspective has changed through different life experiences I’ve had. I write about my sadness, happiness, confusion and all of the above. The best thing I ever wrote was a love letter to myself in 2017. It simply stated “Remember right now how happy you are, because when you read this again, it’ll be because you need it and I’m here to tell you, that you got this.” 2017 Juniper brought me to tears when I read that because I did need her and she was there when I needed it most.
Read more books. I started reading more books. I read books about poetry and love and empowerment because words are powerful and can provoke positive thoughts. Reading books help me feel more creative and it inspired me to write more and fulfill my resolutions. Books are powerful people!
Retail Therapy. Listen, retail therapy is real and it can totally help to boost your mood. I am a BIG practicer of retail therapy (maybe too often) so I can treat myself every once in a while because #selflove. There was this coat that I had been wanting for a really long time but couldn’t justify spending money on it. Then my boyfriend broke up with me and I told myself that I could use the money that I was going to spend on his birthday gift to buy that coat because–you go girl!! DATE YOURSELF.
Workout. I bought myself a gym membership because I was realizing that I was sad coming home from work and then eating dinner and then being in bed by 6:30pm. I was craving social interaction and if anything, an activity that would get me out of a routine of secluding myself in my home. So whether you want to join a group sport, a gym or even work your way up into running a marathon, exercise helps to produce endorphins which are the chemicals in your brain that make you feel happy. So girl, get yourself some of that in 2019 because endorphins ROCK.
Lean on your people. When it comes to my struggles or pain I tend to internalize a lot of it and try to keep my feelings to myself. I think I do this because I don’t want to burden people with my problems. Let me tell you this right now. Don’t do that. Your friends are your friends because they love and support you. They want to help you through your struggles so when you’re feeling sad, lean on them. So–book yourself a GNO or set up a spa night with your people, you’ll never regret the times you spent with your pals.
Create a killer music playlist. Music is so powerful. I am super lucky that Ariana Grande dropped her single “thank you, next” literally at the peak point of my breakup (thanks ari) and she made me feel like a freakin queen. But really, creating yourself an empowering playlist can help start to get you feeling like yourself again. Crank that music and blast it in your car, headphones, speaker– what have you. Whatever way you listen, make sure to sing/scream it out loud. P.S my best belt-it-out singalong songs are “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child and Pink’s “So What.”

These 7 things have helped me SO MUCH in improving my happiness and keeping me mentally healthy. I still have to work on myself everyday, but I’m okay with that. I’ve accepted that I am not perfect, but a beautiful work in progress.

So my people, I hope that you read this and felt empowered to keep moving forward every day. Because, guess what? You got this.

All my love,

your average shrub.