Hello there, my name is Megan for anyone who doesn’t know
me. I’m starting this blog to open up conversations about mental illness and
mental health and hygiene. But before I dive into heavier topics, let me
introduce myself.
I’m a 21-year-old artist living in Central Maryland
currently. One day I might like to pick up and move up farther north into New
England, but for now I’m enjoying (or hating) the crazy weather Maryland has to
offer. I am an avid collector of pointless things, an art snob, a huge anime
fan, and just in general a wacky and sometimes eclectic individual. I enjoy the
little things in life, a good sunset, beautiful color palettes, corny jokes,
good food, and thought provoking conversations. I have a strange tendency to be
more interested in the villains in movies rather than the heroes or
protagonists.
As for what I do with my life, I’d say I do a lot of little
things. Right now I’m working as a nanny/babysitter/chauffer for two different
families with wonderful kids. I do a little house & pet sitting when people
go out of town and need their critters cared for and their house to be kept
tidy. I’m also an artist and I have three main mediums I work with. I am a
photographer, a makeup and body paint artist, and a jewelry designer. I’m
really good at those three things, but most other art forms I am kind of
terrible at. Right now my photography work is mostly free-lance jobs and my
makeup is basically a hobby and artistic outlet. But hey, if you need a face
painter for a party or some prom makeup, hit me up! I am really serious about
my jewelry business right now and I think if I get the chance to really make it
in one field, I’d choose to become a full time jewelry designer. I’d really
love to open a storefront someday, that’s currently my dream.
So that’s me in a nutshell basically. I’m a little quirky
and different. I have goals and dreams and hobbies just like everyone else. But
there is another part of me I don’t outwardly show to people, and that’s the
fact that I have some pretty serious mental illnesses. I have three diagnoses,
Schizoaffective Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and an Anxiety
Disorder that at the moment is Not Otherwise Specified (NOS). They are all very
different from each other, but it gets complicated because a problem with one
can trigger a whole series of problems with another. For example, if my brain
is telling me I’m not clean enough and I need to obsessively wash my hands
again and again and again, that can trigger my anxiety because I’m just not clean enough. And then it can
get even worse, I can start hallucinating if it gets too bad. So very long
story short, things can get stressful and complicated pretty easily.
But the thing is, while life can be really difficult
sometimes, my mental illnesses have shaped who I am today. They have made me a
more mature and empathic person. When I
was diagnosed at 15 I had to grow up kind of fast. I had more things to worry
about than my classmates did, but that’s okay because I’m stronger for it.
So I’m starting this blog because I want to open up
conversations about mental illness. There is a ton of stigma around different
mental illnesses and in a lot of cases it almost taboo to talk about certain
things. I am hoping to break down some of the walls that are up right now and
educate people. I posted about my struggle with self-harm on my Facebook
profile yesterday and a lot of people said it was brave of me to post about
mental illness and something so personal. I think it’s weird that we live in a
world where it’s considered brave to talk about struggling with mental illness.
I mean, if kids can talk about how “the struggle is real,” when it’s time for
final exams, why can’t we talk about the real struggle so many of us face every
day? So I say let’s talk!
I’m an open book about pretty much anything and everything.
I don’t go around talking about my struggles with everyone, but if anyone ever
has a question I LOVE to talk about it. The more myths we can debunk and
questions we can answer the better. So if you have any questions feel free to
ask me, let’s have a chat.
Right now my plans for this blog is to post once every week
or two weeks depending on how busy I am, and how I’m feeling. Honestly it’s
hard to get motivated during a depressive episode, but I’ll try to keep on top
of it. I plan on doing a series of posts that I’m going to call “Chapters,”
which will tell the story about my life with mental illness starting with my
first symptoms, being diagnosed for the first time, and hospital visits. I’ll
also do other posts that might be like rants or responses to other articles I
see posted (looking at you and your nonsense, Buzzfeed), and some might be more
like a journal entry. We’ll have to wait and see!
If you’re still here, thanks for reading! Like I said, if
you have any questions, feel free to ask me, your question could be inspiration
for a whole post. If you want to chat about anything, tell me a story, or if
you need anything in general, I will try to be there and help as much as I can.
-Megan
