Published: March 29th, 2025

As a 28-year-old who is a mother, wife, professional massage therapist, daughter, and sister along with many other titles, I’ve provided so much for them. At times, the responsibility seemed so physically and mentally exhausting. It’s not that I didn’t want to provide for them, but with mental health, you cannot treat it poorly. If you work yourself to stress, your body begins letting you know that it can’t handle it. It’s common nowadays for adults to overwork themselves and ignore their mental health.

In my early twenties, I was diagnosed with Bipolar type 2, depression, and anxiety. It has been a long and egregious journey, but thankfully, I’ve been fortunate to have a very supportive family and group of friends to help me along the journey. This had made my journey more bearable, but it was still my responsibility to learn what my triggers were. Alongside finding what triggered those things, I had to learn what coping mechanisms I could integrate without having to fully depend on the medicines. Some coping mechanisms I found were working out, talking with friends and my husband, and just by simply going outside and enjoying the nice sunny weather. Though I know it’s not a cure, it helps me realize that there’s more to overcoming these obstacles than what medicines are prescribed. The medicine has its place, and it’s important to have it. You have to have it with other things.

Now the topic of mental health is commonly ignored in the Latino community. Older generations are ashamed to say their kids have depression, anxiety, or any other mental health problems. It’s not that it didn’t exist back, it just simply was ignored as well, and they may have been taught to treat it that way. Parents will say their children are just being lazy, selfish, or that you’re making it up. It’s not a big issue until their children are truly suffering and are needing more help. I myself, as a mother, will teach my daughter the importance of mental health and how her mother fought through her own battles. I will always make sure she understands that she can talk with me about any issues, and I will do everything in my power to help her. As I have stated and will continue saying, knowledge is power. If people took the time out of their day to do more research on mental health, a lot of people would not judge those who suffer from issues. Judging a person with mental health issues would be like judging a cancer patient because they have to depend on chemotherapy to stay healthy or judging a diabetic because of the insulin they have to take. Those people are just doing everything they can to be healthy and keep their bodies healthy as well. This leads into my final subject.

As a licensed massage therapist, I can tell you that the mind and body are connected. Many might think that being mentally exhausted won’t impact your physical health. However, that’s not the case because it will. If you don’t take care of either one, the other will begin suffering. It’s important that both are taken care of so that none are off balance. You’re not weak if you have to talk about your emotions. Both men and women should never be ashamed of that. It’s better to talk about it and have support than to bottle it in and let it keep affecting you.