Welcome to Mental Well-Being with Michele
A safe space to explore the triumphs of mental wellness and resilience
I created Mental Well-Being with Michele as a safe space and sacred practice. I called it that simply because ‘Be Well, Michele’ is how I sign my emails as the focus of my work as a coach, writer, and international speaker is mental wellness and resilience, and I thought it was catchy.
Yet, I envision this space including so much more.
There is a distinct difference between mental health and mental wellness, and still, we often lump them together and use them interchangeably.
I don’t believe we should.
In my lived experience with mental illness, I see mental health as including a diagnosis, and involving discussions of medications, and doctors, and therapy.
Mental wellness, on the other hand, is the journey. It is an active lifelong process that helps us to build resilience and to grow. One does not need to have a mental health struggle to strive for mental wellness. For some, it may include eating right, exercising, or getting enough sleep. But it’s so much more than that for me. It’s a complete awareness of our thoughts and an alignment of the body and mind.
Mental wellness is a state of being.
It’s something that is certainly not always easy, as the journey is never ending, and takes daily practice. My own journey began in my late 20s (I’m in my early 50s) with clinical depression and culminated with a series of devasting mental health crisis’s, repeatedly during a three-year period, including disoriented moments of hitchhiking in my pajamas on a busy interstate. Did I happen to mention I was working at a national magazine when that happened?
I was ashamed.
There was a time when I lost that job a year later, and with it, went my belief in myself as a writer, a partner, and a person. Many of us may have a tendency at our lowest moments of giving up on ourselves because our mind tells us we’re not good enough.
Have you ever lowered your expectations of yourself, maybe without even realizing it?
I did that.
The shame, fear, and self-stigma stayed with me for many decades to come, even long after I found myself in mental health recovery. Then finally, through my own personal development journey, I learned how to set it free.
Mental Well-Being with Michele is not solely about the struggle, but the triumph of overcoming.
Every Wednesday, I will pose a new question here that deeply challenged, inspired, or transformed me and share my lived experience of how I grew into discovering the answer for myself and my own mental wellness. I’ll also share strategies and lessons learned from my own practices that have had a direct impact on my life.
But this space is not just a monologue, instead it is a dialogue; an opportunity to share our resilience with each other and cheer each other on. This is how we heal and grow. As a paid subscriber, readers can engage in the comments with myself and each other, as well as participate in occasional live videos of interactive practices. You can still access it for free, but won’t have the opportunity to dig as deep. I can’t wait to share with you.
I am so grateful you’re here.
Be Well,
Michele