I’ve accepted that I am just one of the millions of Americans that have depression and that my self-care has to look a little differently than others. I’ve been learning my symptoms and their patterns and creating healing rituals that build healthy bonds for my mind, body, and soul. Here are eight of them I can’t do without.

I knew it wasn’t up to me to decondition my family of their century’s worth of preconceived notions about mental illness. Yet I realized, by being honest with them about what I was going through and getting treated for it, it was exactly what I was doing.

Watch as I tell my mental health story. From birth, to growing complexes, codependency, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and eventually...healing with therapy. Finding a therapy is not the end of the world. Find out how here.