APR. 11, 2018
My name is Jennifer, and I’ve lived with mental illness for most of my life. I’m diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety and an eating disorder.
I have high-functioning mental illness, so even at my worst, I appear to be at my best. I’ve been able to live a full life, and, on the outside, I seem to have everything together. My parents didn’t know, my family and friends didn’t know, and even I pushed my symptoms down and thought if I worked hard enough and was a good person, they would just go away on their own.
I’ve always felt blessed in a way to have my brain, because it gave me the drive to succeed. I worked hard at everything I did in order to prove something. So, my mental illness never held me back—it drove me forward. But it’s still taken a huge toll on me along the way.
My purpose in sharing my story is to give a face to that famous quote: “Everybody you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about… be kind.”
People with mental illness are not “crazy,” they are sick and trying to live a full life with real health conditions. Please try to remember that and show compassion, even if you don’t understand why someone is struggling. Take time to educate yourself as you would do with any other medical issue. And if somebody opens up to you, please try to listen.
While we’ve certainly come a long way in understanding mental health conditions, there is still so much stigma and misinformation out there. And after three decades of battling my brain, I thought it was time for me to do something to help people understand.
That’s why I decided last year to use my annual PlanksGiving event to support mental health advocacy and NAMI.
I started PlanksGiving in 2012 to do my small part in this world to try to make a difference. I am a fitness professional, so planking is something I use with my clients as a core exercise, but for me, it’s always been so much more.
Planking helps me “feel” at times when I feel numb and lost inside my illness. When I plank, it’s like a kind of meditation. It makes me feel strong physically and has taught me I am strong mentally too.
In the past six years, I have raised over $25,000 for various causes through PlanksGiving, other physical challenges and by selling my artwork. I’m very blessed to have been shown a great deal of support from amazing friends along the way.
Studio-7-West 