Hey Gen Alpha Parents, How's Your Mental Health Today? (10/30/23)
Let's start a Mental Health Monday thread to check-in with each other
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First! Don’t forget to take a quick read of my post, Gen Alpha 101: Halloween Candy Edition as we get ready for the sugar overload that’s surely happening.
Okay, here we go. (TAKES DEEP BREATH) I’ve had a pretty emotional weekend that’s not at all parenting related and yet it is in every way. Because, let’s face it, we can’t be the kind of parents we want to be if we’re struggling with our mental health.
That’s why I am inviting you, my fellow parents of Generation Alpha kids (and anyone else who wants to share), to what I am hoping will be a regular weekly check-in on our mental health. A space for us to grieve, be angry, throw things (except maybe the device you’re writing from cause that shit’s expensive), and do or say whatever it is that needs to be done or said by us at the moment.
Feel free to email me back with your own Mental Health Monday check-in (I WILL KEEP THESE ANONYMOUS!) or scroll down to leave a comment below!
Why I’m Starting a Mental Health Monday Check-In
Since Friday, I have been attending a local writer’s retreat for queer creatives (hello, I’m bisexual if y’all didn’t know!) and all of the workshops I took felt like opening up a vein and bleeding vulnerability right on the page.
Writing vulnerable is something I have been doing ever since I officially “came out” as someone in recovery when I wrote the essay “Confession: I’m in recovery… And here are 5 things I learned so far” back in September 2016. And you may already know this about me after reading “How I Parented My 3-Year-Old During a Depressive Episode“ in July or “I Don't Deserve to Be His Mom” last week.
Well, in the classes I took, I had to do a lot of vulnerable writing that made me realize that I still need to do quite a bit of work on my own mental health in order to keep showing up for my son (who turns 3 years & 7 months today, SNIFF!) in the way that I want to. And so… I wanted to open up this space for exactly that.
For us parents and caretakers who need to take a pause and say: Wait a minute, I matter too, my mental health is really fucking important, and I need a space where I can talk to others about it.
My hope is that this will become a weekly thread where we can share openly—anonymously, if that’s what you need—and be in community with each other.
Earlier today, I was listening to a podcast where an author was talking about loneliness and the link to depression. And they said something that really hit me hard: Loneliness is felt in the same part of the brain as we feel pain. So, basically, you feel literal physical pain when you’re lonely.
So let’s stop being lonely. Let’s stop feeling the pain. And the only way I know how to do this—how humanity has done this for decades—is through community. So if this is your first time posting a comment or emailing me back, WELCOME.
And don’t worry; none of us really know WTF we’re doing either.
Join me in conversation… I’d love to hear your stories. What’s weighing heavily on your mind, right now, today? No judgments, no fear; just honesty. Simply “reply” to this email to share your thoughts with me (full anonymity, I promise!) or leave a comment below. I’ll start ;) I’d love to hear from all of you!
Talk soon,
Irina (she/her) - raising a March 2020 gen alpha kid
I am really, really sad over Matthew Perry's death. My family were BIG Friends watchers, and it's a show that I've rewatched plenty—though it's been many years now.
I'm also a bit ashamed of myself because my first thought when my husband texted me about Matthew's passing was, "oh no, did he relapse?" I'm sad that my mind went there, especially because I am in recovery myself and I don't necessarily subscribe to the disease model of addiction.
But it's kind of what we've been conditioned to believe, isn't it? That an addict's life either ends in recovery, incarceration, or death. Nobody ever says, "oh, by the way, you could also die not because you're an addict but because you have a heart attack and drown in your jacuzzi" (or whatever it is that caused Matthew's death in the end, which we won't know for several weeks).
Isn't it funny how we don't ever talk about that in recovery circles or treatment centers? Like, yes, drugs and alcohol can literally *kill you* or send you to prison. But also, I could be vacuuming the stairs one day, pull on the cord, and the vacuum can fall on my head, give me a concussion, and then medical professionals can fail to properly identify it and treat it—and I can die because I was trying to get a chore done one day.
Join me in conversation… I’d love to hear your stories. What’s weighing heavily on your mind, right now, today? No judgments, no fear; just honesty. Simply “reply” to this email to share your thoughts with me (full anonymity, I promise!) or leave a comment below. I’ll start ;) I’d love to hear from all of you!