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Minding My Mind: Emily’s Story
By Emily // I am Emily. “THAT Emily” as the haters would say. Even my closest friends and schoolmates whisper critically amongst themselves at the very sight of me. They saw me as different and hated the fact that I was considered “special” and favoured by teachers and school seniors. Being the only child of…
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Living with Undiagnosed Mental Illness: Amanda’s Story
By Amanda // I am fearful of disappointing my family. Unlike most people who have an official mental health diagnosis, I do not have one. But I do struggle with mental health issues. I have lived with an eating disorder and anxiety for almost four years. Today, I am here to share my story as…
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Chasing Joy: Judith’s Story
By Judith // It all started when I was 13 years old. The taunts, unkind words, and mean laughter sought to strip me of the little joy that I was holding on to. Every day, I had no one to spend my recess time with, which all started with a girl in my class rallying…
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Story: A Cautionary Tale
By Nicole K. // There were hardly any local, personal stories on mental illness and recovery when we first started. The few inspiring gems we found were largely in the form of print biography. Things are vastly different now with more cross-sectoral collaborations, accompanied by a groundswell of mental health initiatives, thanks to the steady…
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A Different Voice: Vanessa’s Story
By Vanessa // I would like people to become more aware of and accepting of mental illness. Living with mental illness isn’t easy. It is like having a monster that eats you from within. Except no one can see this monster, so no one believes you when you talk about it. I have been dealing…
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6 Things to Say in Place of ‘Positivity’ Clichés
By Kean Loong // When faced with someone who is depressed, what do you instinctively say to the sufferer? There’re many messages of positivity out there which are fallacies and can make a mental health sufferer feel worse. When interacting with someone who has mental health or mood disorders, speaking the truth is always more…
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You Remain: Andrea’s Story
By Andrea // I have been struggling with clinical depression, anxiety, stress and agoraphobia for two years now. I rarely leave home and find it difficult to interact with strangers and see no hope for myself in my future. This is my reality. I worked as an English tutor at education companies in Asia but…
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Journalling for Recovery: Xicius’ Story
By Xicius // I have struggled with recovery for many years. I made many attempts at recovery and one of them was through writing a diary. I failed miserably on multiple occasions but I realize that this is due to several reasons. The things I wrote about are vague; no concrete goals or intention. Unspecified…
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A Theory of Moods: Vikay’s Story
By Vikay // The issue I struggle with is in having too much mental energy and excitement followed by periods of deep silence. Medically this is diagnosed as Bipolar Disorder. In my childhood I was considered moody. But as I aged and started interacting socially, the peaks of excitement were combined with anger resulting in…
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Boys Don’t Cry: Andrew’s Story
By Andrew Y. // I remember the night I surprised myself with my ability to cry. This was during my National Service. My mum was driving me back to camp and I started to tear while talking about how difficult NS was. It was at that point when I realised that I had a problem, and…
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Recovery is a Journey, Not a Destination: Sam’s Story
By Sam // To others, I appear a tough, strong, and independent girl: life’s hard knocks will not keep me down; I have a solid goal in life, a good career, and a partner. Little did I expect, I hit the rock bottom last April. It began when I felt lost all of a sudden.…
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The Power of Peers
By Nicole K. // The Tapestry Project SG recently attended Voices of Experience mini-symposium held as part of the Singapore Mental Health Conference (SMHC). The mini-symposium was part of the conference track “Open Your Minds: Let’s Talk!” and centred on the development of the peer support movement. Voice of Experience is an Institute of Mental…
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Secret Shame and Restoration: Ryan’s Story
By Ryan // There is a saying, that the happiest people are usually the saddest people. Be it that of leaders or that one friend who is always helping people–they give so much of themselves to others but they do not receive much in return. I personally feel that depression is a constant battle within…
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Caring For a Loved One Who Has Depression
By Nicole K. // I recently shared my two cents on this topic in an interview with Health Scoop, particularly on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to caring for someone who has depression. The full article can be found via this link – https://www.myhealthscoop.com/the-scoop/help-loved-one-whos-depressed/ How To Help A Loved One Who’s Depressed Nicole is…
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4 Good Reasons on Why You Need to Have Friends: Judy’s Story
By Judy // It took 2 years for me to realise the importance of friends. It was a scary thought to begin with. But as Nick Vujicic once said: “If you don’t have a friend, be someone else’s friend.” I only started making friends again when I was on a student exchange programme in Europe.…
