Mental health is a journey, not a destination
For Mental Health Awareness Month, we asked our Arizona’s Future Fellows on how COVID-19 has impacted their wellbeing and how they balance their health!
Introduce yourself and your relationship to mental health
My name is Maryan Robledo. I am a senior at Bioscience High school. Mental health is a journey, not a destination. It takes constant effort to maintain healthy mental health. I would say my relationship with my mental health is developing. Some days I feel like myself, other days I feel burned out. But I always try to take days for myself or do little things that help me.
How has Covid impacted your mental health?
Covid had a massive impact on my mental health. I went from going out everyday with friends, clubs and work, to not doing anything because of the quarantine. I felt myself slipping into a depression where I wouldn't leave my room or even my bed for days. I didn't have the motivation to do anything. My grades went down, but I knew that I had to get out of it. So I slowly but surely got back on track. I started to get ready everyday. I got a desk because that made me get up and sit in a work space. I spent days catching up on work and I got my grades back up. This helped me because it got my life back on track. I was able to get back to as close as possible to normality but this time always taking my mental health in consideration.
What do you do to take care of your mental health?
I take care of my mental health by prioritizing my time for my needs. Reading books, taking long showers and swimming are also helpful activities I practice. I also enjoy hanging out with my friends to get my mind off of things and destress.
How do you balance mental health and all your responsibilities?
I set a practice where I have two days to recharge, where I don't take any external requests. I try to focus on catching up on homework and the rest to fill my cup.
What self-care tactics work for you?
Some of the self-care practices that I use are listening to music and podcasts to wind down. I also enjoy long warm showers.