29th Wellness Wednesdays - Kylie's Fight Song

Meet Kylie -- a fearless fighter of ADD, anxiety, depression, rape, and sexual assault.

I am grateful to her for sharing her story so honestly. There are so many people who need to hear this. She is so courageous. I loved getting to know her and was impressed with how smart she is and all the cool things she is doing with her school and her work. #dontstop

PHOTOGRAPHY BY // Martha Keyes http://www.marthakeyes.com/

"Anyone else that's gone through any of this: there are so many people out there. It's amazing once you open yourself up and acknowledge that you have a mental illness but they are treatable. You can do it! But once you acknowledge it, for me that was the first step in being able to be strong enough to get help and be able to look for other people. Now I'm parts of support groups... the support will save you. It saves everything."

To anyone struggling with mental illness, domestic violence or addiction, you do not have to go through this alone. You are amazing and you are loved. Don't let anyone let you think any differently.

141st Fashionable Fridays - BeBop

Need some Brightness to your Day?

Here's an outfit I wore this past summer. My husband nicknamed me "BeBop" when wearing this outfit because it looked like I was going to a sock hop smile emoticon

Top from Dressing Your Truth store http://maryannen.dressingyourtruth.com/
Necklace from my friend...I think she got it at maurices
Earrings from Paparazzi Accessories - Jana Bake Independent Consultant ($5 Accessories!)
Belt (I think) and Skirt from SexyModest Boutique
Shoes from Kohls.... my yellow wedges broke = ( I've had like 3 pairs of shoes break in the last couple months.

28th Wellness Wednesdays - My Fight Song - #IAMSTIGMAFREE

#IamStigmaFree: Here are the questions we were asked to prepare for our interviews. Wanted to share my original thoughts from paper since I'm not always so eloquent in speaking. Italicized added thoughts.
More of my story here. 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY // Martha Keyes http://www.marthakeyes.com/

 
How does your illness or disorder affect your daily life?  I get irritable with my family easily, sometimes feeling like no one cares enough to help me and then feeling overwhelmed trying to do it all, but having no energy to start or knowing where to start. I have to fight everyday to not feel this way, but I'm grateful that I have hope again for the future right now. I feel like everyone is tugging on me and I can't keep my head straight to focus on one thing. When I feel that way, then when my family asks for things I get overwhelmed and lost.
 

What advice would you give to someone living with your same illness? Communicate with your loved ones. For me I have to communicate with my husband and children and try to explain how I’m feeling. Some key words I gave to my husband to say when I feel like I'm falling into a sinkhole. He says, "That must be frustrating," after I share my thoughts, trying to explain what's wrong. I always feel a little silly saying all the things that's happened that day that triggered my feelings of overwhelmedness, but it's so hard to explain sometimes. I just feel like the floor was sucked out under me.
If you don’t live with family, make sure you have really supportive friends that you can turn to when you need to talk. Without a few really supportive friends in high school, I’m not sure I would have made it.
It’s been a little over a year now since I wanted to see myself to be brave to take better care of myself so that I can manage my depression better, start sharing my experiences with others so I could never get so low as feeling I was falling into a sink hole back like I did in February 2014.
My fighting for myself and being brave everyday includes Self Care: Sacred 10 or a Morning Routine. For me those things include using essential oils, essential vitamins and supplements, reading and taking action on personal development books and scriptures, and participating in yoga. When I take care of myself, it’s easier to take care of others. Of course some days are better than others. Take it one step at a time. I’ve added things to my self-care a little at a time in the last year. I’m still a work in progress.

Why is it important for you and others to be stigma free? It’s important to be stigma free so that people won’t be scared to seek support, share their feelings. I’ve dealt with depression since at least high school; some years were worse than others. It took me 10+ years to even tell my parents and other family members. Once I was able to make that step, it became easier little by little to tell more people and share my story. I get scared and anxious every single time I prepare to share my deep struggles with others. I hate that ball of tangled fishing line feeling I have in my chest and don’t want to feel like that when I want to share my story with others, worrying about what someone thinks – thinking that I’m making this up or that I want people to feel sorry for me.

I want to see you be brave; so more can do so too.

Help spread awareness and break the stigma on mental health with these brave women who have shared these stories. We've made it on LDS Daily =)
Be brave, share your story - "say what you want to say and let the words fall out..." - Sarah Bareillis "Brave"

We need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. - Russel M. Nelson
Click on the photo for his full talk.

140th Fashionable Fridays

Fall Colors - I've  been loving fall! I'm grateful to live in a place again with lots of trees to enjoy those beautiful colors. I'm scared it's going away soon though. We had a few snowflakes falling yesterday, but they didn't stick.

New Glasses: Firmoo Online Optical Store
Really affordable glasses. I love that you can upload your photo to try their glasses on. I couldn't believe they could do my high prescription for free. Next time though I will pay the extra for some things like thinner lenses and the anti-glare so I don't have to worry about pictures.

Top: thrifted or clothing swap
Tank: DownEast Basics
Pants: can't remember; they're at least 10 years old smile emoticon
Bracelet: BPriceless
Necklace: Dressing Your Truth store
Earrings: can't remember they're at least 5 years old

27th Wellness Wednesdays #IamStigmaFree Music Video

 

Here's our Music Video to Fight Song



All of this came together in about less than a week for the participants. Most of us learning the dance in 1-2 days. Hearing Fight Song on the radio gives me such a boost. Just yesterday I was really struggling with everything I have going on this week. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack, trembling. I haven't had an attack in so long. I heard this song on the radio and was able to calm down some and try to focus.

 

one of the girls took this picture with their phone; pretty amazing!

One fan mentioned liking the visual of having the wooden posts and some of us behind those because it gave him the illusion that are so many more that we can't see that are still struggling.



Some parts featuring me =)

Part of my Individual Dance

 

My Handwriting =)

WRITTEN + DIRECTED + PRODUCED BY // Ashley Sargeant
FILMED + EDITED BY // Tucker Dansie + Chris Peck https://meetusatthecorner.wordpress.com/
PHOTOGRAPHY BY // Martha Keyes http://www.marthakeyes.com/
HAIR + MAKEUP BY // Becky Swasey (beckyswasey@gmail.com)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY // Chantel Stucki
MUSIC BY // Rachel Platten

Click on the Photo for all 17 women's individual interviews.

106th Mommy Mondays - Rebecca's Story about PPOCD

I was grateful to meet this woman and learn from her as part of the #IAMSTIGMAFREE campaign movement. Learning from her, I believe I also dealt with this with my 2nd child which probably made my depression so much worse. I am grateful though to be able to understand myself better.

PPOCD: PostPartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is one of the most under-reported PostPartum issues.

If you know someone who is pregnant or recently had a baby then say something like, "I know you probably don't have this problem, but I promised my friend Rebecca, who had a postpartum issue, that I would mention this to anyone I know who could have any possible chance of dealing with this. It's called Postpartum OCD and it's where you have scary thoughts that you might hurt your baby. It's really common, and can be easily treated. Most women who have this are too scared to tell anyone, and that's why I'm mentioning this. Just in case you or anyone you know ever has to deal with this or some other postpartum issue." 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY // Martha Keyes http://www.marthakeyes.com/

For more support if you think you are dealing with this, check out this website: http://www.postpartumprogress.com/hope-for-moms-with-postpartum-ocd-intrusive-thoughts