Hey guys! Happy Self Love Saturday!

Today I want to focus on a topic that is very important to me and it’s mental health. The reason I stress “self love” so much is because it starts with having a healthy mentality for yourself and your life and not only is this important for your overall success but as well your happiness and quality of life.

I wasn’t always in a good mental place, I used to be very depressed and unhappy with my life and who I was. It always felt like nothing worked out for me and everyone was against me. I would easily feel very anxious and uncomfortable and I was truly my own worst enemy. I was fortunate though to have one very slight moment of clarity where I finally felt tired of feeling the way that I did. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do or where to go but I just knew that I didn’t want to feel this way any more and so I started slowly to take steps to move out of this head space and into a place that was healthy and where I could find confidence in myself and my life and learn to take it day by day. This was the beginning of my self love journey and now looking back on where I was I wish so badly that I was able to talk to someone about how I felt, instead of just trying to sweep it under the rug all of the time and put on a front like as if everything was okay. I never voiced how I felt and never gave anyone a reason to suspect that maybe something was wrong. When I heard about the death of Karyn Washington, the founder of “For Brown Girls” it made me think of my own battle with depression and how from the outside looking in, Karyn made life look like it was a breeze and it was all working out but clearly it wasn’t. I wished that I had more personal conversations with her and that I simply just asked her “if she was okay?”. I know what it’s like to put a mask on how you’re feeling but sometimes if someone just simply asked you “if you were okay?” you might not be able to hide it anymore. It’s a simple question but it could reveal so much about someone without you realizing.

Today on this Self Love Saturday, I’m asking you guys a simple favor, and it’s to have a conversation, face to face or on the phone with someone near to you and simply ask them how they feel? Whether its good or bad I think it’s so important to communicate with each other and have an honest and open dialogue with the people around you about what’s going on inside of you! Talking to someone can help so much, to calm you down, give you a new perspective on life or simply to just be an ear to listen. It’s a small gesture that can go a long way, so please find someone today and just talk to them. Let’s take the small steps it takes to bring awareness to mental illness.

Happy Self Love Saturday!