We’re all about simple acts of kindness and spreading positivity but sometimes things do sock and that’s okay.
I started this venture wanting to help people feel good about themselves by helping others because togetherness is what adds meaning into our lives and helps us grow. When I met my business partner, I had a lot of my ups and downs and I still do (so thank you Thuta for putting up with one hell of a rollercoaster ride). I still feel lost almost every single day, overwhelmed, stressed and my mind is either point blank or running millions of miles per hour. I started this venture with a lot of self-doubt, insecurity and not the greatest state of mental health but what I did have was a very supportive group of friends, a very supportive family and a very understanding business partner to help keep me going.
What I’ve learnt, is that it’s okay to feel lost, we’re all human. It’s normal to have bad days but what’s important for us to remember, is that from all the bad days you’ve had in the past, you have survived them! I’m not a believer in ‘what doesn't kill you makes you stronger’ because in fact, what doesn't kill us makes us ten times weaker. But in that process of weakness, we learn a lot more about ourselves and we become more compassionate, humbler and more kind. Learn to accept things for what they are, focus on progressing and be patient with results. If you want something, fight for it. If you don’t get it? Keep fighting until you know it’s not right anymore. Our personal best achievements come from consistency, perseverance and bravery.
I’ve been preaching the phrase ‘it’s cool to care’ to my business partner over the past few weeks and we’ve even made it our catchphrase now because it IS cool to care (we even got ‘it’s cool to care’ stickers printed on socks).
It’s cool to care about ourselves, about the people we love and it’s cool to care about strangers.
CARING FOR OURSELVES
We all need to care for our own mental health by learning to say no to things we don’t want to do. We need to care for our own mental health by prioritising what our body and mind is trying to tell us. On my worst days when my mind is literally fighting every single thing I am trying to achieve, I try and force myself to go on a run or do something that will help clear my mind. Taking that first step is always the hardest. I end up giving myself a lot of excuses. There are days where you should try and push yourself to do something good and try to plough through all the negativity. But then there are days where you have every right to not want to do anything. Cry if you need to. Be sad. You don’t have to ’be positive’ in the moment but it’s how you deal with those moments that defines you as a person. If you feel you can’t handle it, TAKE A BREAK. I can’t even begin to list the symptoms of physical stress, it’s not very fun. So listen to what your body is trying to tell you.
CARING FOR THE PEOPLE WE LOVE
We’re all human and we experience very similar things in life, but we all respond and feel things differently. If you know someone going through a hard time, don’t be so quick to judge. We can never understand the depths of what someone is experiencing until we’ve been close enough to experience it ourselves. We can never understand grief or pain until we experience it. We can never understand failure until we’ve failed. We don’t know how much one can love until we’ve loved. We can never understand how much one can hurt until we’ve been hurt. We are not fully responsible for what we go through, in fact, most things in life are out of our control. But what we can control is how quick we judge and comment. Sometimes all someone needs is just for you to listen.
CARING FOR STRANGERS
I literally can’t describe the feeling of being able to help someone without expecting anything back. It not only makes you feel good about yourself but there is a moment of misjudgment, connectedness and understanding that we are all one. We’re all the same but just people with different backgrounds and stories.
Be kind to people when you can because kindness doesn’t cost a dime (unless of course you buy a pair of socks and share another with a homeless person then maybe it’ll cost a bit more than a dime) but all jokes aside, being kind to someone genuinely costs nothing.
So, invest in yourself. Overwhelm the world with kindness and lift each other up.
This piece is quite personal to me but I felt that during a bit of a weird time like this, the fact that it’s mental health awareness week and the past few days have been a constant battle - I wanted to remind those who need to hear it, that life does sock sometimes but we get through it and then it’s great again.
Written by Joey Li
