Kevin took two weeks off in August. Not because he wanted to. Because his doctor used the word burnout in a sentence about him and he could not unhear it.
He had plans for the two weeks. Books he had been meaning to read. A friend he had been meaning to call. A version of rest he had constructed that looked, he realised later, almost exactly like a productivity plan.
By day three the books were untouched.
He sat in his flat on a Wednesday afternoon with nothing scheduled and noticed something he had not felt in a long time. He did not know what to do with himself. Not in a bored way. In a deeper way. Like a compass with no north. He kept reaching for his phone and putting it down. Kept opening his laptop and closing it. Kept standing up and sitting back down.
He had been so good at moving toward things for so long that the absence of a thing to move toward felt like a malfunction.
On the Thursday of the first week he called an older friend. Someone who had known him before the career. He said that outside of work he did not know what made him feel alive anymore.
His friend said that was okay. That it took time. Kevin said he was not sure he had ever known.
His friend did not say anything for a moment. Then he said, that is actually a good place to start.
Some people do not lose themselves in burnout. They discover they were already lost. And burnout was simply the first moment they stopped moving long enough to notice. 🌿
#Storytelling #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #KevinsStory #RunningOnEmpty #WhoAreYouWhenYouStop #Burnout
There’s definitely truth in the idea that avoiding what matters to us can lead to regret, resentment, or cynicism. Unexpressed potential has a way of showing up indirectly.
At the same time, we should be careful about assuming that bitterness always comes from an “unlived life.” People can become guarded, critical, or disillusioned for many reasons, including loss, disappointment, trauma, or circumstances that limited their choices. Not every closed door was left unopened by choice.
Maybe you already know.
You can feel it. The flatness that has settled over everything. The exhaustion that a full night of sleep does not touch. The work that used to mean something feeling like just work. The version of you that shows up every day doing what needs to be done and coming home with nothing left.
You know. And you are still going.
Not because you are in denial. Not because you are choosing to ignore it. Because stopping has a cost you genuinely cannot afford right now. The mortgage does not pause. The people depending on you do not stop needing things. The identity you have built around what you produce does not easily make room for the version of you that steps back.
Knowing you are burning out and being unable to stop is not weakness. It is one of the most common and least acknowledged experiences of burnout. And it deserves the same compassion as the person who did not see it coming.
You are not failing. You are carrying something genuinely heavy. That is different. 🌿
#Validation #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #RunningOnEmpty #Burnout #KnowingAndContinuing #MentalHealth
Colours. Creativity. Communication.
This week's #SkillOfTheWeek is all about turning ideas into visuals and creativity into impact.
You saw it on the flyer already, didn't you?
Get ready for practical insights, creative gems, and plenty of inspiration
#NextGenImpact#Creativity
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Passionate about helping young people discover opportunities and reach their potential? Join us!
Apply via the link in our bio. DM for enquiries.
#NextGenImpact#VolunteerWithNGI
Nobody sat you down and told you that your feelings were not welcome.
It was quieter than that. It was the times you cried and the room moved on. The times you were upset and were told to calm down before anyone asked why. The times you tried to express something and the response redirected you toward something more manageable. The times nothing was said at all.
It happened enough times that you learned. You learned to process things privately. To need less. To take up less emotional space. To say fine before anyone finished asking.
You became very good at it. So good that it stopped feeling like a coping strategy and started feeling like just who you are.
But the feelings did not go away. They just got very quiet. And very good at waiting.
If you have ever struggled to name what you are feeling, or found it easier to manage alone than to share, this might be part of the reason. Not a flaw. A pattern. And patterns can change. 🌿
#EmotionalTruth #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #TheThingsWeCarryFromChildhood #EmotionalPatterns #MentalHealth #YourFeelingsAreValid
Hello @nectarbeautyng_ ,
I purchased the Cerave blemish control cleanser alongside other products from your website on Friday 15th of May, and I picked up the products from your Surulere outlet on Monday 18th of May.
MENTAL HEALTH IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICAL HEALTH!!
MENTAL HEALTH IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICAL HEALTH!!
MENTAL HEALTH IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICAL HEALTH!!
A lot of people think habits become “automatic” with repetition, but ADHD brains often rely more on momentum, novelty, structure, and external cues than consistency alone.
So when the chain breaks once, it can feel like the routine completely disappears, not because you’re lazy or incapable, but because your brain struggles with restarting and reactivating the pattern.
There is a conversation most of us keep postponing.
Not because we do not think it matters. Because we are waiting for the right time, the right words, the right level of certainty that what we are feeling is serious enough to deserve being said out loud.
So we wait. And the waiting becomes its own habit. And the thing we needed to say gets heavier and quieter at the same time.
Mental Health Awareness Week is here. And MHT wants to spend this week gently, firmly, nudging you toward the conversation you have been putting off.
Not because you have to. Because you deserve to stop carrying it alone.
The conversation you keep postponing is the one you need most. 🌿
#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #TheConversationsWeKeepPostponing #MentalHealthNigeria #StartTheConversation
There is the version of you that shows up to work. Composed. Capable. Whatever the environment requires.
There is the version that goes home to family. Dutiful. Present. Managing expectations quietly.
There is the version with friends. Lighter. Easier. Leaving certain things at the door.
And then there is the version that exists when nobody is watching. The one that is tired. The one that is uncertain. The one that has things it has never said in any of those rooms.
Most people spend their entire lives managing which version different people get. It becomes so automatic they stop noticing it is happening.
But it costs something. Every single day. And the cost is not just energy. It is the quiet loneliness of never being fully yourself with anyone.
You deserve at least one space where the whole version is welcome. 🌿
#EmotionalTruth #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #TheVersionsOfYou #EmotionalLoneliness #MentalHealthNigeria #WholeAndSeen
Something broke you once. Maybe more than once.
And in the breaking, it told you things. About who you are. About what you are worth. About what you are capable of. About whether you deserve the things you want. About whether you will ever feel okay again.
Most of those things were not true.
Who you are is not the version the hardest season built. Who you are is the person who kept going after. Who got up on the days getting up cost everything. Who showed up even when showing up felt like too much. Who is still here, reading this, on the last day of April.
That person is you. That has always been you.
Still here. Still going. That is everything. 🌿
#Identity #MentalHealthTogether #MHT #WhoYouAre #Roots #MentalHealthNigeria #StillHere