{"id":21775,"date":"2014-10-14T07:14:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T11:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=21775"},"modified":"2014-10-14T07:14:20","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T11:14:20","slug":"my-mental-health-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/10\/14\/my-mental-health-story\/","title":{"rendered":"My Mental Health Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been 18 weeks since I wrote\u00a0my introduction post on this blog<\/span><\/a>. I remember sitting down at my computer to draft it and thinking that I wanted to portray the best image of myself.\u00a0I wanted to be the epitome of the \u201cperfect U of T student\u201d<\/strong>, and I thought that maybe if I pretended to be that person long enough - eventually I would actually become them.<\/p>\r\n

Unfortunately, that\u2019s not how things work.\u00a0I\u2019m not perfect.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"U<\/a><\/p>\r\n

U of T has dedicated October to Mental Wellness month.\u00a0So, some of us on the crew have decided to share with you our own stories.<\/strong>\u00a0Whether that\u2019s how we deal with stress, what resources we utilize on campus, or just where we can go to clear our heads, we hope that it can bring you some comfort in knowing you\u2019re not alone, and remind you that we\u2019re more than just typing fingers behind a computer screen. We\u2019re humans too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Group<\/a>
See! Real proof that we exist out from behind your computer screen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

My story begins when I was very young. I remember being in grade 6 and beating myself up over not getting the grades I thought were\u00a0\u00a0mandatory. This obviously escalated in high school, and as the work load increased so did my anxiety.<\/p>\r\n

But when I came to U of T, I started to be more\u00a0 anxious about my social life.<\/strong>\u00a0I worried about who I would run into in the hallways of my dorm or about what the person who was staring at me (albeit probably aimlessly) was thinking about me. If they hated me even though they had never met me. I grew distant from my new found friends and closed myself off from the world I had only just begun to feel comfortable in.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n

\"Just<\/a>
Just because someone looks happy, doesn't mean they are. It took my friends a long time to notice I wasn't well, because I insisted on putting on a happy face.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

It took time, but eventually I reached out and found the help I needed. It started by telling a friend, who helped me tell my parents, who helped me find a professional I felt comfortable talking to.<\/p>\r\n

Unfortunately, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all solution. So for that reason, I don\u2019t feel that sharing what specifically helped me, will necessarily help you.<\/p>\r\n

Instead, I want to share two things;\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n1. Talk to Someone.\u00a0<\/strong>Talk to a friend, a family member, or one of the amazing counsellors\u00a0 at\u00a0U of T\u2019s Counselling & Psychological Services<\/span><\/a>. They offer amazing resources including in-person counselling.\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\n2. I\u2019m okay.\u00a0<\/strong>I survived and dare I even say, flourished, in the rest of my first year. I got help I needed, and I\u2019m still getting the help I need. I know it may feel like it\u2019s never going to get better, but it will - I promise.\r\n\r\n

\"Left<\/a>
Eventually that fake smile turned into a real smile, and with time it even turned into a laugh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

So I guess my story should end with an ellipses and a \u201cto be continued\u201d. It\u2019s still something I\u2019m working on every minute of every day<\/strong>. Sometimes it means I skip a class on Friday to go home and see my parents, or sometimes it means I skip a social event to go to the library and do my readings.\u00a0It\u2019s about finding what works for you, and accepting that \u201cperfect\u201d isn\u2019t an achievable goal.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

So stay tuned for the rest of the week here on the Life@UofT blog for stories, tips, and tricks from the rest of the crew. While you\u2019re at it, make sure to check out the\u00a0U of T Mental Wellness Month activities<\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n
\nIt\u2019s been 18 weeks since I wrote\u00a0my introduction post on this blog. I remember sitting down at my computer to draft it and thinking that I wanted to portray the best image of myself.\u00a0I wanted to be the epitome of…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “My Mental Health Story”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “My Mental Health Story”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,62,1,66,67],"tags":[86,25497,88,12762,1439,10051,85,12761,1883],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21775"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21775"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21808,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21775\/revisions\/21808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}