As we begin to wrap up Mental Health Awareness Month, we wanted to share a little more about each one of our mental health stories with all of you. We believe that our stories are unique and felt the more we shared the more we lessen the stigma associated with asking for help. Here Sarah shares her journey…
Being a young adult professional is tough, especially the past two years. The job search process has been my greatest life challenge up to this point. The cycle of applying, sometimes getting an interview and getting rejected, or not hearing back at all, was on repeat. It had reached a point to where applying to jobs became a full-time job and an obsession.
I would apply to at least one job a day, sometimes more depending on the positions that were posted. The job searching cycle got old very fast to the point where I began experiencing application burnout. I also had feelings of hopelessness and thought something was wrong with me. I was in a rut, not only with the job search process but with life in general.
This past fall, five years of applying to jobs while also having the same daily routine finally started to take its toll on me. Things I was once passionate about were no longer bringing me the same joy I once felt. Instead of looking forward to these things, I thought about walking away. On the rare occasion that I would get a job interview, I did not get excited because I had convinced myself that I knew what was coming next.
The moment I knew my mental health was in need of some serious TLC was when I began having a panic attack and getting anxious over little things. It was as if the last five years of daily life and job searching finally caught up to me and my mental health started to crumble.
That was the wake up call I needed and immediately began making some changes in my life. I took a break from job searching until after the holidays, changed certain parts of my daily routine such as going to the gym (I had a routine there too), limited the amount of caffeine I consumed (Yup, this can make anxiety worse) and realized that my hobbies were just that, hobbies. I often treated my hobbies as if they were my full-time job.
If I am being completely honest, would I say my mental health is better now than this past fall? Yes, but there is always room for improvement as it’s easy to get caught up in daily life and forget to put yourself first. Professionals, especially young professionals, are taking on more responsibilities in both the workplace and in our personal lives than generations before us.
We all cope with mental health in different ways as we each have our own unique mental health journey. In my opinion, the most important thing to remember is that self-care is not selfish. Yes, this is easer said than done but often times it is necessary to do so to improve the state of one’s mental health and being the best version of yourself.
To wrap up this blog, I will leave you with this quota “Tough times don’t last but tough people do.”
Take care of yourself today and always!