Begum's Mind

Blanx•i •e•ty (c) /BlaNG'zīədē/ noun Feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease associated with the daily turmoils of being Black in AmeriKKKa \ usually due to the possibilities of unknown outcomes ____________________ Anxiety is real and alive in the Black community, even though we don't want to acknowledge it. It comes coupled with depression often and we all know that when it comes to mental health, we love to play like it can't affect us. So, we probably don't even realize that anxiety heightened from being Black is even possible. No, I'm not saying being Black is a bad thing, or that it's going to always cause feelings of despair. I'm not saying that every Black person is going to even relate (we know there are outliers), but, I am going to point at the fact that we may have heightened moments of anxiety due to being Black in America. Think about it. Every day we see on our social media feeds and TV screens that another person who looks j...

What a friend we have in anxiety. Just the word alone can cause an adrenaline rush. It drops in like the best friend you've always thought about: shows up unannounced, stays for long periods of time without a care, keeps you up all through the night! I am not shy about my anxiety. Whenever I have an opportunity to tell my story, I do. Not to try to find pity in people, but to open the conversation for those who think it's something to be ashamed of. So many of us battle with anxiety now in our 20s that it's almost like it's something we should have been told about as a progressive stage along with periods and wet dreams. I have touched on the topic of mental health previously in "13 Reasons Why Pretty Hurts: An Ode to Mental Health", but I still don't think it's enough. Anxiety for a lot of people is more than just that feeling of nervousness before a big test, or a presentation in front of the entire office. Anxiety is something way deeper and can...

My aspirations in life?...To be happy. I am sure we have heard about the Netflix Original " 13 Reasons Why " by now, and if you haven't then let me enlighten you for a quick second. (No spoilers) The series focuses on a high school girl who commits suicide and instead of leaving behind a regular suicide note, she left behind a series of cassette tapes dedicated to each person which whom she felt caused her pain and pushed her to the edge. Dramatic, right? Pretty deep. It does have some graphic content and it can get a bit morbid, but there's definitely a huge message (a few) in the series. One theme would clearly be that mental health is a serious issue that we should not ignore. I won't spend my entire time on just this show, but I wanted my readers to understand the affect it had on me. Mental health is a serious topic for me. You truly never know what someone is going through or has had to battle. People may look at teenagers and assume they'...