Mental Health Struggles Can Manifest in Different Ways
- Melony Hill
- 16 minutes ago
- 2 min read
We often picture mental health struggles as loud breakdowns, visible anxiety, or tears.
But in reality? Mental health challenges can show up silently.
It might look like smiling at work while drowning inside.
It might be canceling plans because your body is too heavy with sadness to move.
Or scrolling your phone for hours, not because you’re lazy—but because you’re mentally exhausted.
For Me, mental health struggles are silent.
They consist of Me pulling back, isolating more.
I doom scroll to avoid My own reality.
I find excuses to not attend events.
Depression can wear lipstick. Anxiety can have perfect attendance. Burnout can look like being “the strong one.”
That’s why we have to stop judging people (including ourselves) based on appearances.
Over the past few months, I stopped showing up looking 'put together' all the time.
When someone who just met Me saw Me dressed recently for a presentation, they asked how it felt to be dressed up with My makeup done as if I were some homeless woman who's gotten a makeover. In reality, I just decided to get dressed for work.
Mental health struggles don’t have one face. They show up differently for each of us.
And recognizing that truth is the first step in healing—for ourselves and others.
What’s one way your mental health has shown up that others didn’t recognize? How did it feel to keep it inside?
If this resonates, consider joining my 5-week therapeutic writing program, Rediscover the You Within, starting in July. Together, we unpack what’s been weighing on us—without shame.
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