Darkness to Dialogue: Living Well With Mental Illness

Mental Health Recovery During the Holidays: Strategies to Avoid Triggers, Relapse, and Burnout Article Summary The holiday season can shake your emotional footing fast, whether you’re managing a mental illness, navigating recovery from trauma, or balancing both. Family expectations, shifting routines, and sensory overload can leave you overwhelmed before you even realize what’s happening. This guide helps you stay steady, offering practical tools to protect your mental health, maintain boundaries, and move through the season with clarity and intention. A Moment That Shaped Me One Thanksgiving, I realized just how off-balance I felt, the loud conversations, the pressure to “keep up,” the subtle family dynamics that always seem to slip back into place. I wasn’t in danger, but I was tired in a way that cut straight across every symptom I was managing. I spent the day feeling both present and invisible, as if I were expected to play a part I didn’t have the energy to perform. That y...

  Summary Always saying “yes” may seem kind, but people-pleasing can quietly erode your mental health. Discover how to identify patterns, reclaim your voice, and cultivate lasting resilience. Key Insight People-pleasing often hides unmet needs and fuels anxiety, resentment, and burnout. Recognizing these patterns and practicing healthy boundaries improves mental health and accelerates recovery. My Story With People-Pleasing For most of my life, I thought being agreeable, easygoing, and always available made me a “good person.” The truth is, it made me invisible to myself. When I was struggling with depression and trauma, I believed that saying “yes” to everyone else would make me more likable, easier to love, and less likely to be abandoned. But the cost was high. I stopped recognizing my own needs, my own voice, and even my own preferences. People-pleasing left me exhausted and resentful, yet terrified to change, because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. “People-pleasin...