This is without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve ever shared.

Every Mental Health Awareness Month, I share something pithy and trite.

(Maybe I’m being unfair to myself. Sometimes I post a throwback from the play I wrote about a therapist and her patients.)

A lot of people don’t know the parts of my story that I share in this video.

And even the people who know have never heard me talk about it like this.

(If you know nothing about me at all, maybe start here for an overview.)

I’m scared of what people will think of me for sharing this. And that’s kind of exactly why I’m sharing it.

I created Wild Cozy Free to cut through the facades and charades, and pretenses of day-to-day life. This is a place where I want to keep showing up as my full, messy, imperfect self. And what I’m sharing today is part of my story.

This is a place where I want to prove to myself, and to you, that shame dies when the truth is told in safe spaces. (Ann Voskamp) (Although honestly, I’ve heard a lot of variations of this quote over the years, so please correct me if someone else was the first to say this!)

For anyone who is battling the kinds of thoughts I’ll discuss in the video above, there are so many resources like the 988 Lifeline and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) full of experienced, empathetic, trained professionals who are here to help. (AFSP is the organization that hosts the Out of the Darkness Walks that I talk about in the video above.)

There is no shame in getting help. And there is no shame in what you’re going through.

You are never, ever, alone.

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