Dear Reader,
May is mental health awareness month. I’ve talked about it before here on my blog, but my mental health journey has been a long one.
I’ve tried so many different medications over the years. I have sat in many therapist offices. I have self-harmed. I have even contemplated suicide. I even gave up at one point and decided that even the act of trying was pointless. I decided that I wasn't worth anything good. I came under the false belief that God no longer cared.
But, despite it all, hope was still shining through the darkest parts of my mind.
A movie that I have really come to love is “Dear Evan Hansen”. It's a musical that started on Broadway. It deals with the topic of mental health, especially in teens.
There is a song from it that I really feel sums up my mental health journey: “You Will Be Found”.
“Well let that lonely feeling wash away
Maybe there’s a reason to believe you’ll be okay
‘Cause when you don’t feel strong enough to stand
You can reach, reach out your hand
And oh, someone will come running
And I know they’ll take you home.”
Despite traumas in my life and in my mental health, this song points exactly to what has helped me hang on:
People who hold out their hand to me when I am struggling. God included.
The song talks about having a community that can rally around you in your darkest times. And, if you feel like you don’t have your people, an encouragement to keep fighting until you find them.
When you reach out your hand to people who care, you can keep your head above water. There truly is strength in numbers.
For me, the thing that has had the biggest impact has been community. Having a group of individuals that cared made all the difference.
And it is through these people that I began to believe again in God's care for me. It is what led to me making the decision to seek real, lasting change. It helped me start to like me again and to see myself as worth the fight and the care.
Regardless of where you’ve been, how far gone you may feel, whatever ways you struggle; you can start over again. You can change your life. You don’t have to go through change alone. We’re in this together.
You’re worth the fight friend. Jesus sure thinks so. He died for you and thinks you’re a pretty big deal. I believe it too.
Love,
Chelsea
