We all go through things, and as Gianna Abao sees it, there’s nothing wrong with and no shame in asking for help.
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Trigger warning: This story has mentions of depression and suicidal ideation.
With how quick and fast-paced life is, it can feel like everything is coming after you from all sides. Whether it be your personal or professional life, there’s seemingly a new problem waiting for you around every corner. It can get overwhelming for your mental health and even isolating in feeling that you’re alone in fighting your battles. But the reality is far from that, and there will always be a helping hand there for you.
Just hear it from Gianna Abao. The content creator is one of our favorite ates on TikTok thanks to her useful life advice, but she also isn’t shy about her struggles with her mental health. She’s been there, and it’s valid to feel your feels. But there’s always a tomorrow. Read some of Gianna’s experiences and advice when it comes to taking care of your well-being below.
What does “protecting your peace” mean for you?
So for me, what I usually do is I mute my notifications and I put my phone away, especially when I’m trying to focus. And then what I do, especially in the morning, is I try to journal and meditate, because when I developed generalized anxiety disorder and depression, a huge part of it was my lack of a work-life balance.
Kasi, since you’re a content creator, parang yung life mo, nagiging trabaho mo, and profit off of your personality or what you do in a day. So what I had to do was to learn how to build that boundary between my work and my personal life. Initially it was hard, but then it was just about learning how to cancel out the noise and then just turning off notifications when I needed to.
Given your fast-paced schedules, how do you find the space for your personal time and care?
What I usually do is I really block off my time, because when I started content creation, I was also starting my business, so I had a lot of things on my plate, and I felt like I was biting more than what I can chew. So I really had to plan out everything from Monday to Sunday. And initially I really had poor boundaries with work, because I thought that by being productive, then you’re pushing yourself to achieve what you want. But that’s not how things work.
Self-care is all about learning how to balance and learning how to pause, which is initially when you’re in your 20s, or when you’re trying to achieve something or a goal for yourself, you don’t really understand that you just want to, like, push yourself to your limits. So I really had to learn how to block my time when I can rest and when I can get a massage and basically lower my cortisol level.
Corset and skirt by @markee_emir_loresto, High neck top by @uniqlophofficial
How do you think social media has changed the way we talk about and deal with our mental health?
I love how social media slowly destigmatizes the concept of mental health, because before, if you seek out a psychologist or psychiatrist, there’s something wrong with you. But what I learned from UNICEF, because I was once a volunteer for a mental health campaign for UNICEF, they were trying to promote the National Center for Mental Health and that’s where I learned more about the mental health spectrum.
It’s not like you’re always okay, but every day we encounter stress, and then that’s actually basically how I learned that through social media we can educate people, and just by educating people, you know how to take care of your mental health, you know that everybody goes through something, and you know that it’s okay to ask for help.
As a creator whose work revolves around social media, how do you make sure your well-being isn’t affected by the online noise?
I thought I wasn’t a people pleaser. But then, when I got into social media, I wanted to please everyone, which almost drove me insane. I really never thought that I would be a social media content creator before, so it was a lot of things that I had to work on. So what I do now is to just be authentically myself and just understand that you can’t please everyone.
During those down days, what do you do to take care of and guard your mental health?
I really need to seek help sometimes, like I really schedule with my therapist a session, and I always try to promote the National Center for Mental Health, because before I wasn’t earning from social media, and I would get like, 1000 comments per video. It was crazy and so it was difficult for me, especially during the onset of the pandemic. I think it was like 2021 and I didn’t know how to handle, like, bashing. I didn’t know how social media works, because I wasn’t active on social media before I became a content creator, so I didn’t know the gravity of cancel culture or bashing before.
So what I had to learn was to really schedule that time to meet up with my therapist, or during that time, I would reach out to free mental health services through the National Center for Mental Health or PGH OPD. So it’s really one of those things that you can start with, or if you’re not comfortable to seek help yet, because sometimes people don’t really want to talk to like strangers about something that they’re going through, you can always seek advice from people you care about or you love, or actually just talking to someone who can listen to you.
Why do you think it’s important to prioritize taking care of your emotional and mental well-being?
As someone who wants to do everything all at the same time, if you want to achieve something greater, you need to take care of your mental health, because your mental health is a part of your overall health, and before, I think it wasn’t emphasized. Especially, for example, I’ve had this conversation with my dad. He didn’t really believe in mental health disorders until it was his daughter who was going through it, because at the time I was going through, like, suicidal ideations, I was dysfunctional, and I really couldn’t work anymore, so I think that just by learning how to communicate that better, you’ll understand mental health as a part of your health.
What advice would you give to young people who are struggling mentally?
I think because, based on my experience when I volunteered for UNICEF, one of the hindrances that young generations face is that their family members don’t really believe in mental health. There really is the mental health stigma that’s still prominent here in our country. I just learned from Your Millennial Psychologist that the youngest one who had a mental health disorder is a three month old baby.
So it’s not about you going through something. You can just develop it. Everybody can develop it. So if you really need it, if you really can’t seek help yet, you can always talk to someone who can listen to you, because sometimes something as simple as having someone to listen to you matters more.
Photography Excel Panlaque of KLIQ Inc.
Creative and Fashion Direction Andre Chang
Art Direction Gelo Quijencio
Styling Andre Chang
Fashion Assistant Kurt Abonal
Makeup Hidaya
Hair Sam Corbillon and Cath Balingasa of Triple Luch Hair Studio by TLBNS
Shoot Coordination Jasmin Dasigan
This story was first published on the October Zen MyZine print pack. Order your copy now here.
Continue Reading: For Gabe Pineda, Mental Well-Being Starts With Giving Yourself Space
