WE HAVE A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

It's #mentalhealthawarenessmonth, and for me this is personal. I have witnessed and experienced mental illness in my family since I was a little girl. I too have walked through my own journey with being diagnosed with CPTSD along with depression/anxiety. My story, and the story of my loved ones is why I advocate. Why I care so deeply to destimgatize #mentalhealth in BIPOC communities.

When there's a 6+ month wait for medicaid patients to have access to behavioral health services....

We have a mental health crisis.

When there's an over year wait to be seen at a children's hospital for a psychiatric evaluation....

We have a mental health crisis.

When children are being sent to ER's and having to wait days in order to get services.

We have a mental health crisis.

When non profits are at full capacity with their case management due to little funds.

We have a mental health crisis.

When parents have to go through the system alone while advocating for their child.

We have a mental health crisis.

I'm not here to sit on the side lines! I will fight. I will advocate. And I will put my time, money, talent and resources into co-creating and identifying solutions as a way to partner with my neighbors and youth!!!

My desire is to create spaces for others to feel safe, connection and belonging! Because healing can be experienced in so many ways...not just talk therapy.

I SEE A BRIDGE

Friends, yesterday I had my therapy session, and it was so good. I'm finding such freedom and healing, and this past week, God has just been revealing such truth to me, and for my family which is so opposite of how I felt last week.

My session ended with my therapist saying, "I see a bridge. And on the other side, it's your destiny. In the middle of the bridge is your adult-self, and at the start of the bridge, is your little girl. I would like for your adult self to begin to prophesy to your little girl all that you see that's in your destiny. Can you do that?"

I instantly said yes, and now as I'm typing this, there's such excitement for me to open myself up to see what God shares with me. I'll be sure to share it with you too.

If you didn't know, or are new to following me, I've been on a mental health journey for over a year now. We've been doing some hard inner child healing work, where I've been able to identify the lies I've been believing about myself for all these years, like how I'm not good or worthy of good things happening to me. That everyone else around me is meant to succeed but not me. That I'm suppose to live a hard life, and so much more. All of these lies stem from being abandoned, and being taken advantage of as a small kid. But God....he is not only healing me, but taking such ugliness, and perversion, and is making something new and purposeful out of it. Even as I type this I feel a confidence in who I am as a daughter of God.

I share all this, because I don't want to keep it to myself. I long to share what I'm learning through my sessions, so that it would encourage or inspire you to take the steps to talking to someone professionally, especially if you've been feeling that nudge to do it, but fear or the unknown has stopped you. Or maybe begin to open the door to exploring what your story is. Maybe there's some pieces that you've hidden or haven't shared with anyone before because of shame or guilt.

I'm sharing this because I want you to find freedom, joy, and belonging in a way you've been searching but just can't seem to put your finger on it.

I'm sharing this because man, life is HARD! And we can't do it alone....in fact we weren't created to. You, my friend, are so deeply loved, wanted, and accepted.

I end with this, He can't heal what we don't own! Our stories matter to the heart of God. He wants to take all of what you have experienced, and begin to reveal truth,  and partner with you in fulfilling your God given purpose.

Okay friends, that's it for today!

Until next time!!!

Jasmine

CELEBRATING OUR WINS FROM 2017

You guys we are 11 days into the new year, and I felt this strong sense that before I start sharing, and digging deep into our life, and all that we hope for in 2018, that I should take a moment to celebrate our wins from 2017. Right?!?  So as I have taken time to sit, and write, I'm so excited to share all that we accomplished in 2017.

Now, I confess, we weren't the best at goal setting then, and I don't have record of what ALL our goals were. But I do know which goals we achieved and wanted to share them with you, and maybe do a little victory dance for them....hmmm....that sounds like fun?!? :)

I'm also sharing them, so I can sit in the reality that while we weren't good at goal setting we accomplished some pretty BIG goals last year, and for that, it's something worth celebrating!!!

1. Go on a couples trip.

This was a goal I never thought we'd accomplish, but Jeremy made it happen sooner than any of our other goals. For my birthday, which happens to be in Jan., he surprised me with a trip to LA. So for 5 days we got to just have fun, not work, and be together. It was definitely a great way start of the year for our marriage.

2. Find a therapist. (Jasmine's personal goal)

In April of 2017, I hit my darkest most hardest depression. Mental illness is something I've always wrestled with, but hadn't done any work on talking through my past, or start the healing process. I have known that I should be talking with someone, but finding that trusted person was hard. Well, through my small group, a friend shared her therapist's info. with me. I'll admit, after my friend texted me the therapists contact info., it took me a few more weeks to reach out, and then a few more weeks to officially get a session scheduled. It's been over 6 months now that I started my healing journey, and I couldn't be more grateful to my therapist and to God for all the healing that I've experienced in such a short amount of time.

3. Go on a family vacation.

Going on a family vacation is something we had always wanted to do, but knew we would need a big budget in order to make it happen. Especially since the kids were asking to go to Orlando. So we crunched the numbers mid-summer and asked ourselves if this was something we could really do. While Jeremy and I had 2 different opinions on this, I felt I should follow his lead, which isn't always easy for me. He believed that somehow extra money, not a part of our budget, would become available, and that's how we would pay for our vacation, coupled with finding great deals. Well I kid you not in less than 48hrs later, Jeremy was hired for a design project, and to lead worship at a church. Between both of those gigs it covered most of the cost for our trip. I promise I'll share more in detail on how we did our vacation at a super affordable cost in another post. But yay, in November 2017, we took our very first family vacation.

4. Buy a 2nd Vintage Trailer of our Photo Booth Business.

This was a business goal of ours, well maybe more mine than Jeremy's. With the craziness of our schedules we just knew we had to outsource most of the work, and leave painting, and decor to me. In July we picked it up, and in less than one week, we celebrated our new trailer at the most beautiful backyard wedding we had ever been at. Her name is Faye. You can see what it looks like here: jaziphotobooth.com.

5. Pay off our Car.

This goal took lots of determination.....why?!? Well, because my income fluctuates so much, and to intentionally set a big chunk of money each month in our budget to pay off the car was extremely scary. There were months were we didn't have enough, and the average $ amount per month just continued to increase. But God! Through determination, and staying focused on the goal, in Dec. 2017 we paid it off. Yay!!! We are one step closer to being a debt free family! Next is our mortgage....here's to dreaming right?!?

What were some of your goals in 2017 that you accomplished?!?!? I love to celebrate those wins with you!!!

-Jasmine