Mental Health Awareness: The Real Check-In

Kris Evergreen here. It’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and today I want to go a little deeper than the usual Monday start.

Here’s the real question: how are you doing? Not the polished answer. Not the fine or pretty good or managing. The real one. The one you’d give if someone actually had the time to hear it and you trusted them enough to tell the truth.

I ask because I think a lot of us are carrying things that we’ve categorized as not serious enough to mention. Not bad enough to be a real problem. Just a low-level weight we’ve gotten used to. And sometimes that weight needs to be named, even just to yourself, before it can be addressed.

Today, be honest with yourself about how you actually are. Not to spiral into it — just to know. You can’t take care of something you won’t look at. And you deserve to be looked after, including by yourself.

If you’re struggling in a way that’s bigger than a bad week, please reach out to someone. You don’t have to carry it alone.

You can’t take care of something you won’t look at. Be honest with yourself today.

What’s one thing you’ve been carrying lately that you haven’t fully acknowledged, even to yourself?