Our Top Takeaways from AAPI Heritage Month x Mental Health Awareness Month: Looking Inward and Moving Forward
In the last two weeks of May, we took the time to connect inward and invited our staff to share how they choose to take care of themselves. As AAPI women with a myriad of unique journeys navigating mental health, self-care looks and feels different for every individual, but it still means, in its simplest form, returning love back to oneself. Though everyone has their own experiences, we found some trends in their responses that highlight the similarities in their stories, some of which may resonate with you.
1) Everyone has different ways of feeling like they are starting to spiral, so having self check-ins periodically is important to gauge our mental health.
For some of our staff, that means losing interest in or being unable to make time for the things they usually love to do, such as organizing or even just going outside.
For others, it means lashing out irrationally or shutting down emotionally.
→ This means that: it’s important to find out what that threshold is for you to prevent potential burnout or crashing into a dark headspace.
2) Self-care can take on many forms, and it is shaped by how we love the people around us.
Many of our staff members mention that self-care involves taking the love they give for others and sharing that back to themselves.
Oftentimes, this is shaped by how we grow up, how we see other people in our community love us, and then learning how to re-purpose that love in a way we can accept ourselves.
→ This means that: understanding how we view love, whether it’s measured in time we make or services we give, will help us gain a better idea of what self-care methods work best for us.
3) Self-care can be big or small.
We hear this often, that self-care is unique only to you, but part of that takes time to learn to fit into our busy schedules.
These things can be physical or mental, and honestly, they often feel mundane like choosing to cook a quick comfort meal instead of eating junk food or skipping dinner.
→ This can also look like: a walk in the park, having a familiar routine to stay grounded, grabbing a sweet treat as a pick-me-up, or even a boudoir photoshoot to feel good in our own skin!
4) As AAPI women, we’re often in go mode trying to tend to everything on our agendas for the day, week, year. Thus, incorporating self-care into our lives helps make the big things start to feel less overwhelming.
To check in, ask yourself some of the same questions we asked our staff members. A common word we found is “spiral” and “apathy.”
When it feels like everything is blowing up, are there healthy ways to slow down and remind ourselves to take a step back and reframe the anxious mindset?
→ We encourage you to think about: what that slippery slope looks like for you. How do you know you’re spiraling? Can you feel when apathy settles into your body?
5) Self-care is meeting and accepting yourself where you’re at, but also recognizing that there may still be room to grow.
This means knowing our limits and setting boundaries not only with ourselves, but also with people around us. This also means giving ourselves grace and not letting the insecurities crowd our mind.
Sometimes, this means having a difficult conversation with someone, but it can also mean a self-awakening that comes from a moment of deep introspection.
→ This looks like: balance, which is hard to strike when meeting the expectations we set for ourselves and that others set for us. Yet doing so will only remind us that we are still growing, still chugging along, still persevering.
Thus, taking a moment to acknowledge the overlap between AAPIHM x MHAM should serve to remind us that we are enough.
Taking some time out of our busy schedules is not easy, but managing our time to make time reminds our inner children that not only do we owe it to ourselves to take care of our body and mind but also, that we deserve it. We observe AAPI month and Mental Health Awareness month in May, but truthfully, we should be proud of our AAPI heritage and be aware of our mental health not just one month out of the year, but every month henceforth as well.
All illustrations by Karenna Yang