My mental health experience is unique to me. At the same time, it has so much in common with what other people experience.

That’s one of the things that I have found both comforting and frustrating in the past few years. It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone, but it’s frustrating that others have to experience the challenges I’m facing.

I don’t want other people feeling or thinking the way I do at times. And that’s one of the reasons I have chosen to launch this blog.

I Mean Well is a personal mental health blog that talks openly and honestly about the things that affect me. I want to be open about my mental health experiences because we should talk about mental illness.

Without fear, without shame, without guilt. So many of us are going through similar journeys. By being open about those journeys, we can find common ground and support ourselves and each other.

What I’m going to talk about

Of course, I can’t pretend to be an expert on all things mental health and wellbeing. I’m not a trained therapist or counsellor. While I have trained in mental health first aid, that doesn’t cover all mental health conditions. And without the lived experience, I certainly don’t want to sound like an authority about mental illness.

But I do want to share my experiences with mental illness. In particular, I want to talk about depression, anxiety and impulsive-type borderline personality disorder. These are three conditions I have been diagnosed with in recent years.

I also want to talk about how these conditions relate to my identity. I’ll be exploring how my mental health correlates with my sexuality and upbringing as a Third Culture Kid.

Finally, I’m going to open up about my experiences with substance misuse, which relate to both my mental health and identity.

Being honest about mental health

These aren’t easy topics, as you can imagine. I’m preparing myself to be rather candid about my life, which includes sharing difficult memories, feelings and thoughts. Some of it may even come across as over-sharing.

Fair enough. But the reality is that mental health isn’t always easy. Life isn’t always easy. We go on social media and we see people’s posts and think they’re living their best life. Parties, holidays, time with friends and family, new homes and so forth. Hell, you’ll even see that same thing on my private Instagram account if you looked.

But I want to break those illusions. I want to get real with you. I believe that when we’re real with each other, we can build more meaningful connections and feel less alone.

This blog, after all, is about life beyond the highlights.