Mental Health Moments: Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone To Tell Your Story
⌛ By Kaylin R. Staten ⌛
What is one story you want to tell if fear wasn’t in your way?
Oh, my friend. Do you have all afternoon? I have quite the mental list. I’ve been keeping it for years!
First off, I am human. I’ve made my fair share of minuscule to major mistakes. No one wants to paint herself in a negative light, right? As a public relations professional, I made every attempt in the world to shelter my feelings from cold stares of coworkers, broken promises, and every prying eye around me. I didn’t have time to show my true self. I would just close my office door and cry into my empty coffee cup while looking out the window.
And I’m a highly sensitive person. I wear my heart on my sleeve and my battle scars in plain sight. No matter how hard I try to cover up my personality, I cannot change it. I spent almost every year of my 20s attempting to be a person that I am not: a perfect picture of rationality at all times; an organized mastermind who doesn’t forget to do a work task; an overachieving hot mess who never took a break and always volunteered for everything; a young female in the workplace who just wanted to let things go.
But, GUESS WHAT. I am irrational at times because I am a human with actual emotions. I’m incredibly organized, but there are times I forget to put things on my calendar. I work exceedingly hard, but I know that I cannot say “yes” to everything and that taking a break is actually good for my health. And I do not have to let everything go if it goes against who I want to be or what I stand for.
Case in point: People love to contribute to the gossip mill, right? I’ve been guilty of it, too. There is something addictive about partaking in office gossip or talking about a family member out of love until it crosses a border of a judgmental no-return. However, where does gossip get you? In a judgmental, negative headspace that completely doesn’t jive with compassion and love.
I tell you all of these things to say this: fear led my life by the hand and heart for too long. As a creative individual, fear nearly killed my innate need to be authentic and to share my story. I worried about what others would think and how they would view my writings.
The fact of the matter is, the world needs my stories. It needs yours, too. Your narrative won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and that is OK! Find your tribe. We all have people who would love to connect with us. Seek out those people.
And begin chipping away at your fear a little at a time.
So, I have this draft of a memoir. It’s the most personal project of my entire life and includes the tragedies of my life, mostly of how I thought about myself for years. There’s the standard fare of horrible relationships, deaths of loved ones, and low levels of confidence. There are also happy moments, too. No one but my husband has read this in its entirety.
Own your process and your story. Choose parts of it to tell, if you’re like me and don’t want to tell everything all at once. There is someone somewhere who needs it. Even if just one person relates to me, I will feel 1,000 percent honored.
My challenge to you: Release something this month that’s outside of your comfort zone. I most certainly plan to do just that!
Read some of my breaking-out-of-my-comfort-zone moments!
Please note: These blog posts are not clinical, although we will provide symptoms and other information. These posts are based on my experiences with anxiety and mental health in general. If you or someone you know needs help, visit a website like Mental Health America to learn more.
Mental Health Moments blog posts are every other Tuesday of the month. Our CEO and contributors highlight what it's like to live with a mental health disorder and continue to fight the stigma through storytelling.
Kaylin R. Staten, APR, is an award-winning public relations practitioner and writer based in Huntington, WV with nearly 16 years of professional communications experience. As CEO and founder of Hourglass Media, she uses her compassionate spirit and expertise to delve into the heart of clients’ stories. She is a recovering perfectionist, mental health advocate, wife, cat mom and Leia Organa aficionado. Connect with Kaylin on LinkedIn.