Welcome!!

Hello and welcome! Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to read my first blog.

My name is Amrit and I’m 18. My decision to create Happea Minds comes from having my own experiences with mental health. I want you to know that there is at least one person on this planet who cares about you: me!  Mental illnesses, or any period of bad mental health, can make you feel so alone but you shouldn’t believe everything that your brain tells you. That’s just how important you are: your mind wants you all to itself!

I know that the biggest thing getting me through my experiences is the support system that I’ve got around me. My aim with Happea Minds is to create a wider support system for warriors, like you, to be a part of. It’s a safe space, where you can share your experiences, feel less alone, and know that getting better isn’t linear but it is possible. I hope that my blog, and the Pod, will help to show that you’re not the only one going through this: there are others who have come out the other side and those who don’t even know that they’ve got this to come.

As cliché as it sounds, it’s okay to not be okay. Some people take a few weeks to get over a period of bad mental health, others can take years. I’ve lived with anxiety and depression for over half my life, and I’ve experienced my fair share of symptoms. From starting off with palpitations and panic attacks when I was 8, I have now developed agoraphobia, bladder weakness, fatigue and nausea. I’ve spoken to GPs, psychiatrists, counsellors and specialists to try and find some sort of solution to stop feeling the way that I do. I understand the frustration when you’re told time and time again that there’s nothing more that can be done for you; I understand the annoyance when an illness doesn’t seem to let up; I understand the disappointment when doctors seem to give up on you because you’re “too complicated” for them. As someone who hasn’t had an easy ride with my mental health, I know that positivity can often seem overrated. By reading snippets of my story and of others’ stories, I want you to see that you can keep on hoping, even when things don’t seem to be letting up or getting better.