*Disclaimer: This is not professional advice. This was created to share our own struggles and opinions. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, receive professional help immediately.
As times progress, mental health struggles are more and more prominent in our society and among our peers and families. I recently interviewed my dear friend, Aleshia Wisch, about overcoming mental health struggles, battling depression, and her rare disorder, trichotillomania. I’m excited to share this content with you because it’s not talked about enough among our communities yet and we want to bring more awareness. Our goal is to give you hope, inspiration, and helpful pieces of information to master your mindset and really conquer your struggles.
Aleshia is a mom to three boys and has been happily married for 16 years. She is a serial entrepreneur with multiple businesses and shares a huge passion of mine which is helping those who battle mental health issues. She battled trichotillomania, a hair pulling disorder, for many many years before she found a successful way to overcome it.
Kimberly: Can you share with us what your mental health struggles were?
Aleshia: I battled anxiety and depression that stemmed from an impulse control disorder called trichotillomania. I tried many things, including medication, which none of them worked. The medication made me a zombie and I did not feel like myself while I was taking it. It even affected my son while I was nursing him. It came to a point in my life where I said, “Why am I hurting myself and my family like this?” and then I met you, Kimberly!
I was already a business woman who had graduated college with a masters and you really unlocked the door to personal development for me and showed me the importance of it. I read somewhere once that 90% of everything you do as an entrepreneur comes from personal development…and you finally helped me believe it! By telling people my story and the things that I’ve done to conquer my battle, I realized that I could help them and make a difference too. With a serious disorder, I want people to realize that you do not have to let it control you – but you need to learn how to control it. And in most cases, it will be a long, hard battle.
Kimberly: Finding coping strategies was a huge help in overcoming my alcohol addiction – what does it mean to take care of your mental health in your opinion?
Aleshia: First and foremost, you need to make the decision that you are worth putting yourself before other people. I, also, needed to realize that I needed to be completely whole before I could help other people pull themselves out of the trenches. I love to help people, but I couldn’t give it my all until I was helped first. Once you go through mental health struggles and conquer them, you never want to see others go through the same thing. I also involved myself in Facebook groups that had communities of people struggling with the same things and that helped me cope too. Kimberly also pointed me in the direction of doing daily affirmations and that was a total game-changer.
Kimberly: It’s really important to surround yourself with people and relationships that can be your support system. Pouring my internal thoughts and struggles into other people really helped me conquer my mental health issues.
Closing Remarks
Kimberly: Mental health is not a taboo subject. Everyone struggles with different mental health issues. One other tip that really got my mind right was coming up with some kind of practice that you can do every single day. For example, I start by waking up in the morning and journaling. My favorite thing to journal about is, “I am so happy and grateful that I am…” and complete the sentence.
Aleshia: I love journaling too. I do mine a little differently and start off by writing out who I am grateful for in my life and thankful that they are there to support me. Last, but not least, don’t forget to give yourself grace. You’re not going to conquer your mental health in one day or even one week, but you do need to keep moving forward.
Watch my latest #getLIT training to see other coping mechanisms we mentioned about conquering out mental health.
Would you like more trainings, webinars, courses, and content?! Visit Goal Digger University!
If you loved this blog post and found the tips helpful, share it with a friend. 🙂
