As a creative, protecting your peace and mental health is vital especially during the holidays. Chicago based Mental Health Professional, Catherina Malone -Taylor, BJS, MHCS, MHP shares practical insight on how to do just that below.
When we talk about protecting our peace and mental health, especially in the holiday times, we all have those nosy Black family members who’s like, “you really ain’t got a job.” It’s like, no, you guys literally submitted and conformed to this ideal that you needed to work for somebody, or you needed to work underneath a corporation or a corporation to feel valuable or to feel validated.
As for me, I validate myself every single day when I wake up and I’m not having to answer or respond to someone else.
I’m gonna say exactly how I feel without dumbing down to fit into your box. Because if I fit into your box into your world, I’m denying myself the validation to exist inside my own.
And what we do with that is that I tell people all the time, Hey, when we walk in, let’s not talk about job titles. Let’s not talk about the projects I’m working on. Let’s talk about how our relationships have allowed us to be in this same room and create a piece of the love that we have for each other, because we’re connected through relation.
You’ll find out when you have these interesting conversations that a lot of people don’t know how to relate through conversation or relate through community because the only thing they’ve been surviving on is ‘That’s my sister so I have to have a conversation with her, or that’s my brother. And I have to have this conversation’.
I’m here to tell you no, you don’t.
Because if I fit into your box into your world, I’m denying myself the validation to exist inside my own. – @BMHG_LLC
When we walk in the door, peace is there because we are peace and we create peace because peace is within us.
When you are in an environment that doesn’t serve you and you can’t necessarily work or create because it’s limiting you, you have to then dismantle it. When we’re dismantling a lot of these systems, we’re dismantling how normalized it is to be in such traumatic situations.
That is my self-care. Had I not taken care of my selfcare, I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I need to do.
About The Author: Catherina Malone -Taylor, BJS, MHCS, MHP is a Mental Health Professional who dedicates her time to social work, social justice, and advocacy for black mental health in our community and motherhood. As a mental health professional, Catherina quickly realized there are not enough resources available for the black mental health professionals and their potential patients so she founded Black Mental Health Guide.
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