If being thrown one curve ball after another for the past six months has taught me anything, it’s that you never know what’s going to happen next. You may think that you have everything figured out, that your job is secure, that it won’t happen to you, etc. but it can.

Before the global pandemic, I planned to travel more, make an effort to attend more birthday parties, bridal showers, and just have game nights with friends. Working in healthcare is weird right now. Nothing feels the same. Distance makes me even more paranoid than I already am. I miss the days where I was running around crazy, being swamped and overwhelmed. I never thought I’d say that, but it occupied my mind.

There are a few things that remain constant and despite everything, I still want desperately to improve my mental health this year. I’ve always had big dreams and to be honest, I’ve accomplished most of my goals. When I’m passionate about something, I don’t stop until the task is finished.

I don’t have anything against medication; however, looking in my purse to find the correct bottle out of the 8 different medications I was prescribed to cope with our family’s trauma is my least favorite thing to do. I want to feel like myself again. I want to feel better, and I know that helping other people feel better in the process would keep me motivated.

I feel mentally drained. Working night shift and then coming home to homeschool 4 children is a lot, but that’s not why I’m drained. I’m drained because I have, for entirely too long, tried to pour from an empty cup. I set everyone’s glasses out on the counter…my husband’s, my kid’s, my coworkers, the organization I work for, photography clients, social media followers, friends, housework, siblings, parents, etc. The list goes on and on but not only did I not fill my glass, I didn’t even set it out on the counter.

Positivity can only go so far when you never take time to reset. I remember last week I sat on the couch staring out the window and I just couldn’t even process anything else. My kids deserve the absolute best version of me, my husband deserves the best version of me, and I deserve to feel better. It’s more than okay to take time for yourself. I just didn’t believe that for a long time or try to find the importance. But I’m getting there. And I want to help you get there too.

I have started a Mental Health Challenge where each day I will do a quick video on different aspects of improving your mental health. For Day One I have encouraged everyone to write down their biggest reason WHY. Why do you want to feel better? This will make more sense as we go along. I am going to go more in depth in my blog each day about each topic and provide additional resources. I can’t wait to get to feeling better together!

My biggest reason why is my children. I want to let go of so many things so that I can be the best version of myself for my children.