💪Take Care of Your Mental Health
DISCLAIMER: This article is purely based on my opinions and experiences. I might be wrong or sound insensitive on some points so I truly apologize in advance. 🙏
Acceptance
Just this year, I learned the hard way that mental health issues really exist.
I'm truly sorry about this but being a person with a very strong personality, I used to laugh at people who have mental health issues. I would always say the following lines:
"You're just being dramatic"
"Attention seeker" especially for celebrities making the headlines both international and local
"Just learn a new hobby"
"Don't you have family or friends to talk to?"
I was wrong and I sincerely apologize.
I experienced depression early this year. This bitch got me really bad. 😂
I always have huge goals and can endure multiple hustles at the same time.
It's the first time I've hit rock bottom mentally.
Understanding Why
Let's back-up a bit...
I was raised by a hard-working and strong single mom, caring grandmother, and supportive aunt who I consider my second mom. No problem here. I'm so proud of their sacrifices. I learned how to be mentally tough, become "madiskarte" (resourceful) in life, and just be happy when life goes south.
However, I grew up with an uncle who is a drug addict. Violence is regular, he would sell our stuff, and borrow/steal money from us just to buy drugs. My savings were included from being an entrepreneur at a young age. We needed extra income to survive.
At a young age, I understand not to tolerate victim mentally. Like in the US, if people are poor, they would work 2 to 3 jobs to get out of that situation. In the Philippines, if we are poor, we rally and blame the government.
I hope that we would stop spending time on things we can't control and start focusing on things that solve our problems.
Connecting the dots looking backwards:
At an early age of 5 years old, I was already working non-stop with my grandmother. We were selling calendars, eggs, dried fish, and cakes. My grandmother was using me an as asset. Not in a bad way but because kids are cute. 😂
When I was in elementary, I was selling trading cards.
When I was in highschool, I was fixing laptops while competing for the top of my class. Luckily, I graduated valedictorian. 💪 The student who is always in the principal's office for pulling crazy pranks became the top of the class. 😂 So many parents were mad at my alma mater because of this.
When I was in college, I was juggling between selling gadgets, freelancing as a web developer, traveling and creating events as a Google Student Ambassador, and maintaining my grades (I was a consistent dean's lister. I could have graduated Magna Cum Laude but 1 teacher gave me a grade of 78. He's known for being a terror. I think only 30% of our class passed).
Also, while in college, I really wanted to go away from our province because of the very toxic environment. So on my graduation, it was a Friday, I flew to Manila and work the following Monday. (No break bro! Brotha needed cash really bad so I can buy whatever I want.) 😂
I'm now busy building tech/crypto startups and being a tech speaker since then for almost a decade.
There's a pattern here. My lifestyle is toxic as hell. I’m always juggling 2 to 4 things at the same time. 🤦♂️
Early this year, I suffered extreme burnout plus the pandemic plus I felt betrayed on our previous startup plus I discovered that my 5-year relationship was cheating on me near our anniversary and my birthday plus the extreme volatility in the crypto market. 😂 (Actually, I enjoy the last part. I still write about why I love crypto. More articles under the Crypto category soon.)
DOMINO EFFECT! I can say that the first and second quarter of 2022 were shit! 😂
How I Survived?
I tried therapy but after 1 session, I didn't like it. I was a stubborn son of a bitch. 😂
I tried alcohol but it always made me miserable the next morning. Drink is life but only with people I trust 100%.
I tried dating but I somehow I feel like I wasn't ready.
Here are the things that work for me:
I accepted all of them with open arms because these are just the results of my decisions in life. I can't blame anyone but myself.
I took a hard reset in my life. Things were moving too fast so I took a step back and rethink everything.
Pray daily and allocate a few minutes for musings about your purpose and dreams in life. Trust me, you will lose all your will power if you have depression. You have to understand who you are again.
Explore new places, run or exercise, and start a new hobby. That hobby is trying to be creative for me. As a coder, my creativity is close to non-existent. I'm starting to learn mobile photography and story telling using videos on Instagram.
Go out often and make sure that you go home happy. Connected to point number 4.
Your bed will pull you. Get the fuck out there as soon as the alarm turns on. Do something right away.
Change environment. I literally sold everything at home and tried to move places every week.
Get out of depression ASAP or you'll be stuck there.
Don't even think of getting close to the idea of ending your life. Fuck that! There's so many great things the world has to offer.
Chill Bro 🧘♂️
As we always say like a broken record, these experiences will make me stronger moving forward.
For a change, I'm taking it slow this year to reflect, run on different cities, explore new things, and discover what's next.
Unwanted advice:
If you're still young or just young at heart, avoid a toxic lifestyle. Constantly take breaks. It will hit you hard some time soon if you don't.
Just enjoy life and read my Becoming Successful notes to help you become mentally strong.
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