Hi! I’m Tea, or rather, I’m not Tea. More on that later.

There’s been a lot of talk about mental health in recent years, because it’s a relatively new field of study for medical professionals. Even now, mental illness and well-being often seem to be taboo topics in our homes and friendships. The world doesn’t quite know what to do with us.

That’s for more than one reason. I think many people are afraid of the concept of mental illness and thus steer away from involvement because of our natural human fear of the unknown. They ignore or avoid the mental health community because it’s easier and less scary to do so. These people are shy and short with the mentally unstable because they don’t know how to connect with us.

Another (thankfully) less common type of person is the one who doesn’t believe mental illness is a real or serious issue. They’re the people who say, “Everyone gets stressed sometimes,” or “It’s totally normal to be sad.” Yes, everyone does get stressed sometimes, but most people don’t experience PTSD flashbacks and panic attacks with near cardiac arrest conditions when a trigger is stimulated. It’s also normal to be sad (great deduction, Sherlock) but not normal to experience chronic depression and suicidal tendencies. As you can probably tell, I have very little patience for these people because they’ve rejected the fact of the matter and chosen to hurt instead of help, just because they don’t want to change their narrow worldview. These people are toxic and extremely harmful.

And the last type of person is the one who pretends to understand and be an “advocate” who “speaks up” for us but really doesn’t have a freaking clue what they’re talking about. They usually end up doing more harm than good in their efforts.

All these people, whether or not it’s intentional, contribute to a seemingly indifferent or even outright hostile environment for the mental health community. It’s so easy to feel lonely, lost, and judged for a mental illness that you have no control over.

That’s my purpose for this blog. I’m someone who struggles with depression, anxiety, self harm, and suicidal ideation, to name a few. And after seeing this problem, I’ve set out to accomplish two goals:

1) to educate the general public about my experience with mental illness and to help you understand what it’s like and connect with my community.

2) to encourage people who do struggle with their mental health, and to remind you: you’re not alone in these struggles, and there’s always hope.

I’m looking forward to debunking myths, explaining difficult concepts, making fun lists, answering questions, and generally kicking some butt with y’all.

Let’s go be awesomer.