We have interviewed 38 people who have overcome struggles as a result of reinventing themselves. These stories show that zooming out and reinventing the way you lead your life is one of the most powerful ways to overcome struggles of mental health.
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I’ve interviewed 38 people who have been helped by reinventing themselves, and here are the top 5 struggles that these people have overcome:
In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.
That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.
“Shortly after the trauma, I started to isolate myself from the world. Experiencing anger with just about everything and everyone. Those closest to me sensed something was wrong. I knew something was wrong. But I was not able to identify what it was. Nor could anyone else. I continued to spiral out of control.”
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
“I tried to keep a smile on my face and pretend all was great, but deep inside, I had this sadness, bitterness, and anger. I was in denial that something was wrong, and in my mind, if I admitted it, it would confirm what I knew all along. That I was a failure at being a mom. I even compared myself with other moms. Imagine that! I tried to hide it from the world.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-improvement
“The pressure I placed on myself only compounded my emotions. I was afraid to tell other people outwardly. I dropped hints to people in hopes someone would just ask because the humiliation of opening up felt too heavy a burden.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
“Because I wasn’t using solid evidence to understand my situation; I was just using my own thoughts and feelings, which were terribly limited. I mean, one person cannot possibly know all there is to know in order to make sense of themselves or the world. Life is simply too complex for that.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-Care
“After I hung up, I couldn’t help but cry like an 8-year-old. I’m talking about real sobbing, you know, the ugly kind. That’s when my partner realized the full impact that this job was having on me.”
Helped by:
Journaling
Reinventing yourself
“Neglect, abuse, and the profound impact of my mother’s involvement in the witness protection program marked my childhood. These experiences left deep emotional scars that have taken years to understand and manage. These challenges have ebbed and flowed over time. Yet, they’ve always been a constant presence, influencing how I see the world and interact with it.”
Struggled with:
ADHD
Anxiety
Depression
PTSD
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-improvement
“I never mentioned the accident to anyone until I met my future husband at 22. He was sympathetic and supportive, and helped me understand the enormity of what I had been through.I still have not talked to my siblings about it.”
Struggled with:
Abuse
Depression
Eating disorder
Suicidal
“My mother said she wanted to end it in bloodshed and she waited for him to come home from his late-night meeting. She thought better of it when he was late arriving home. She was overwhelmed with thoughts of her in prison and me in foster care. To say that she made the right decision in achieving the goal of a good life is an answer I struggled to answer for many years.”
Struggled with:
Abuse
Anxiety
Childhood trauma
CPTSD
Depression
“As my anxiety levels grew, I turned to alcohol and then combined that with Vicodin to fend off the bad feelings. I would drink to the point of blacking out on a regular basis, sometimes never knowing how I got home.”
Struggled with:
Abuse
Addiction
Childhood trauma
CPTSD
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Therapy
“So now I’m still having migraines and nerve pain, have been removed from my job and friends, was ordered to not contact anyone from my unit, my future livelihood was at risk, and my leadership was only willing to try to remove me from sight. This lasted for almost three years.”
Struggled with:
Chronic pain
Depression
Stress