Teresa is in her early 20s and looking forward to blogging about her journey with newly diagnosed autism. Within the past few years, she’s had to rebuild her entire life from scratch and navigate everything very differently. She recently had the opportunity to job shadow at different locations and has been inspired to attend college and one day work with children. Teresa is eager for this new chapter in her life and wants to inspire others with autism to never give up, despite whatever obstacles life may throw their way.
View all postsMental Health Awareness Month: Turning Pain into Strength
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Welcome back to my blog! The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I’m going to be talking about that in today’s blog. I wanted to start by saying that I’ve been open and honest about my journey and recovery in mental health, but truthfully, it’s really hard to open up and share my feelings not just on the blog, but with others as well. It has always been pretty hard for me to open up to others because sometimes I get afraid that when I express my emotions to people, they will judge me for having them. And unfortunately, I’m not the only one who feels that way. The stigma surrounding mental health has been around for centuries, and though it has come a long way, there still needs improvement. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1 in 20 Americans have lived with a serious mental illness with 1 in 5 Americans experiencing a mental health condition in a given year.
The past several months have been hard. I’ve had to do a lot of self-reflecting and reframe a lot of the negative thoughts I had into positive ones. There were many times when I wanted to give up, when I thought it was pointless that what I was doing was stupid, and that I was never going to feel better. But I kept trying anyway. And then eventually, I felt better. And it was like a weight was lifted from my chest. I like to think the challenging few months I had were like a roller coaster. You know how before you get on the ride you have all these feelings? Sometimes you get this adrenaline rush or you may feel nervous or even scared. Those are the feelings I experienced during that difficult time. But just like a roller coaster, I knew that as long as I kept holding on, I was going to be fine.
Getting to this mindset I’m in right now was not easy, and I still have a lot of work to do, but I try to remind myself to take things one step at a time. I like to end every blog post with the same quote because it has a lot of meaning to me. So, as I end this blog, remember never to give up. If you make a mistake, you can always start again. Nobody’s perfect. I hope you enjoyed this blog and I’ll see you in the next one!
Teresa Cardona
