LOVE, LIFE AND IDENTITY

From navigating newfound “independence” to finding friends in a 500 person class, transitioning into university life was a struggle for me. Realizing that I was, in fact, not an exception to all those times faculty warned us that “university is much harder than high school,” I found myself constantly questioning my self worth and whether I was capable of seeing this college thing through. My mentor at the time worked at my school’s counseling and mental health service, and suggested that I consider looking into what they have to offer for students like me. After a week of staring at the phone number on the website, I finally worked up the courage to make the call. Somehow overpowering the urge to hang up the phone as soon as the counselor picked up and working up the courage to walk to my appointment, I found myself on a comfy little sofa across from my counselor. 

Here, I found myself slowly opening up to him, delving into my University experience and accepting the fact that I was on that sofa because I deserved to talk to someone, not because there was something wrong with me. When he started asking me questions about my culture and religion, I froze. I almost felt the wall that I had painstakingly pieced apart build back up between us. He constantly reassured me that he was asking these questions to see if there was a sense of community I could establish, but I could not shake the fear that he was going to judge me as soon as he realized I was Muslim. 

Upon discussion with many of my peers, I learned that many members of the Muslim community resonate with this hesitancy to obtain counseling services. The current state of the media has shaped many negative connotations towards the Muslim community. Thus, many Muslims have to navigate interactions sparked by these negative connotations, adding to the stressors of daily life. This does not indicate the strength of one’s faith or the confidence they have in their religion. However, there are nuances of daily life that members of the Muslim community encounter that contribute to their mental health. Constantly being told or chastised by others for your choices regarding the hijab (whether you wear it, how you wear it, etc.) can be a frustrating experience because it is such a personal part of one’s journey. Waking up to news of a mosque shooting across the world may make one question whether this would spark further violence in their own community: are they no longer safe going about their daily routine? Witnessing a lack of awareness towards Muslim concentration camps may make one question whether the world actually cares about the injustices towards this community. These events constantly take a toll on the well-being of Muslims around the world, so how does a non-Muslim counselor even begin to understand these concerns and how they apply to the already present stressors of life?

At this time, Muslim representation in counseling and mental health services is especially important to provide the best level of support to members of the Muslim community. In general practice, people tend to be more comfortable with counselors/healthcare providers who share some sense of identity with them. In the same way, Muslims may feel more understood by a counselor who understands their beliefs, acknowledges the effects of stigma towards their religion, and can work towards addressing those concerns. This can be implemented through increasing Muslim representation in this field or through establishing trainings on how to address the needs of this community. Hopefully this will encourage more members of the Muslim community to reach out to counseling services, potentially allowing for further Muslim representation in the field and working towards addressing the stigma of using mental health resources.

Illustration by Natee127/Getty Images

Mental Health Resources in Austin for Muslims:

• Sarah Shah, Licensed Professional Counselor-Associate: www.healwithsarahshah.com; IG: @healwithsarahshah
• Rawand Abdelghani, Licensed Social Worker and Mental Health Clinician: IG: @hopewithrawand
• Safa Institute, non-profit organization for connecting muslims with mental health resources: IG: @safainstitute

Featured Image: Photographed by Nadia Correia

One year ago, when the pandemic first took its stronghold, social distancing was a buzzword referring to the measures we must take to prevent community spread. However, almost within a month, people were urged to use the term “physical distancing.” Even if the term did not quite catch on, why was this so significant? Humans are social creatures and living in communities is an important part of our wellbeing. Social distancing seemed to imply we needed to quit engaging with the rest of society and distance ourselves, well, socially. 

Physical distancing, on the other hand, allows for social activities and even encourages interacting with others safely. For instance, online communication is meant to be a substitute for in-person gathering. Meeting with friends with masks on but at a safe distance of at least 6 feet apart is not  beyond the bounds of physical distancing. Even this small change in wording has a considerable effect on how we interact with the world. Despite the efforts to change the way we frame the safety measures taken in the pandemic, loneliness has been a common, shared experience amongst all ages. Older teens and young adults have been hit the hardest by the loneliness epidemic. Some reports even say that the rate of loneliness amongst younger generations is higher than that of older generations, reversing the pre-pandemic trend.

Currently, many people seem to be going through cycles of social withdrawal and social activity,  and many factors influence how people feel about interacting with others right now. 

One fellow undergraduate student expressed their feelings about social reintegration. “I recently met up in person with exec board members for my club, but I was more worried about how to interact with them in person than I was excited.” Schools and universities are more than just educational institutions. They serve a larger role by acting as a point of transition to larger society. For some students, school is the center of their social support network. This link has essentially been broken in the age of virtual learning and stay-at-home orders. 

Additionally, loneliness itself is difficult to define. However, it can be best summarized as “the feeling of being alone, regardless of the amount of social contact.” In this case, online communication may not be sufficient to reduce these feelings of social isolation. 

Another undergraduate echoed similar sentiments about the use of online communication platforms as a replacement for in-person activities. “Many of my friends always wanted to call on Zoom in the beginning, but it always felt forced since we usually had nothing new to add. I think a lot of us realized how much of being friends came from spending so much time together” they said. In fact, in a recent survey by ValuePenguin, 10% of respondents said video chats only make them feel lonelier.

The effects of loneliness do not end at just simply feeling disconnected from society. According to the CDC, social isolation also results in a greatly increased risk of premature death from all causes, not unlike the risk from smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. In addition to this, it is associated with higher rates of mental illnesses. Due to COVID-19-related distancing, about 25% of women and 30% of men report feeling lonely when they would not otherwise.

To combat these feelings of loneliness and the accompanying feelings of disconnection from society, you can cope in healthier ways:

1. Find a new hobby you truly enjoy that focuses your attention on one thing.
2. Keep your body physically active and exercise regularly.
3. Sleep at the same time each night in order to get consistent rest. 
4. Engage with small groups of people in a physically distanced setting.
5. Take frequent breaks from upsetting news and social media scrolling.
6. Seek help if you feel extremely overwhelmed.

A trap to avoid falling into, especially in the age of social media, is the idealized or stereotypical “self-care.” We tend to perceive self-care to be limited to the posts we see, when actually it looks different for everyone. The one thing that has helped me the most in truly finding peace in an activity is to remember that I am doing this for myself and not anyone else. For some people, this might actually look like a spa day with face masks and warm baths. But for me, a self-care night means cooking dinner with my sister and eating it over our favorite k-drama. 

While it’s important to “distance,” that doesn’t mean we need to become socially disconnected from our community. Ironically, in the epidemic of loneliness, we are not alone. We need each other more than ever to get through these challenging times.

Featured Image by Nikita Ermakov

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon hardships and stressors that have affected us all in some fashion. One overlooked, but common concern is the negative effects of quarantine on one’s mental health. At the beginning of quarantine, I remember often feeling burnt out after checking social media and reading heartbreaking news day after day. Every week began to look the same with nothing to look forward to; my motivation to complete tasks around the house slowly declined, and my overall energy was noticeably lower than it had ever been before. One day, as I was cleaning out my room, I stumbled across my old journal and rifled through the pages. My interest was piqued, and I decided to try my hand at journaling once more. Over the following weeks, I noticed improvements in my mental state and wellbeing. 

Journaling can improve one’s mental health because it encourages introspection, and provides an outlet to express inner sentiments onto paper. This simple action can enable us to gain better control of our feelings and understand more about ourselves in the process.

What are the key mental health benefits of journaling?

• Digging into your true feelings: Life moves quickly, and it can be easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of events we have every day. Journaling is a method to slow down and really examine how we’ve been feeling. If something has been a heavy weight on your shoulders, taking time to sit down and write about it can lead to a deeper and more realistic perspective as well as lifting the burden a bit. 
• Controlling your symptoms: By journaling, you are able to recognize certain stressors or recurring behaviors. There are many ways you could run with this information in order to gain more control over your symptoms. For example, you could make a list of steps you want to achieve in order to reach a final goal or track your progress on the frequencies of certain moods or behaviors. Additionally, journaling gives you an opportunity to lift yourself up with positive affirmations.
• Improving your mood and wellbeing: Journaling can also be used to document happy memories! It could be as simple as jotting down a good moment from every day or pasting in mementos (ex. ticket stubs, a sticker from a friend, etc.) and writing a caption for explanation. A journal can also be filled with positive things from your everyday life that you can refer back to when you’re feeling down. Also, making an effort to find a positive in each day will cause your overall perspective on life to become more optimistic.

Dream log and collage about that dream

People are often discouraged by journaling because they assume it is only writing. Although writing is a useful outlet, journaling is not limited to solely this medium. It can be tailored to a variety of interests! Some examples include: scrapbook journaling, bullet journaling, an art journal, short exercises (ex. writing a letter from your fear, making lists, mind maps), and more. Personally, I love mixing things up and just going with what I’m in the mood for/what I think will help me the most. Sometimes, I write every single thought that comes to mind, and other times, I take the craftier route and sketch or create a collage. 

Drawing of a frog with lyrics I liked from the song, Yoko Ono by Moby Rich, and a sketch of house I thought was pretty on Zillow

Now, it’s your turn. Get out there, grab a notebook, decorate it to your liking, and journal away! If you’re having trouble finding a place to begin, here are some of my favorite places to find inspiration:

• User @margot.lee on Tiktok
• Searching “moodboard” or “journaling prompts” on Pinterest
• Events occurring in my life, small or big
• Following others that journal on any form of social media

Featured Image: Emma (1996)

In the 19th century, the white man believed the Africans he enslaved and exploited were immune to Western diseases. Today, the white doctor believes his patient, a woman of color, is not worthy of comprehensive treatment.

Women of color, particularly African American women, are often dismissed by healthcare providers when they complain of pain. Why?

Many of us fall prey to systemically ingrained, inherently racist stereotypes. My black power movement professor links those stereotypes back to Jim Crow ideology. “Why do you think all black people are athletic?  — because slave owners bred them to entertain with sport. Why do we think black people feel less pain? That’s how the white man justified his atrocities.” 

In class, we catch our breath and pull sympathetic faces. We, as forward-thinking intellectuals, are repulsed by the barbarity of those times. Yet, we, as forward-thinking intellectuals, fail to realize that we haven’t moved as far forward as we think. 

A 2012 review study — analyzing over 20 years worth of data — published that African American patients reporting pain were 22% less likely than their white counterparts to receive medication. 

Roslyn Lewis, a dollar store employee, injured her back to the point of nerve damage. The ER physicians sent her home with motrin. A 2006 NCBI study defines trust as a key determinant in a doctor-patient relationship. The same study reports a high rate of African American distrust in the healthcare system. 

Implicit bias is not a problem to solve in a blog post. So if we must accept this issue as an inevitable for the time being, what can we do to alleviate it? The answer lies in representation. As women of color, we can capitalize on our own implicit bias and better serve our communities. 

The healthcare landscape is still dominated by white men, who believe certain medical myths, including “the nerve endings of black people were less sensitive than those of white people.”

Dr. Salimah Meghani, a researcher and professor at the University of Pennsylvania says that people are naturally more empathetic to those they can relate to. 

Let’s put the pieces together: If white men take up most seats at the health care table, and if white men can relate to other white men, then only white men are being served. That’s a lot of white men.

In this time, when implicit racial biases are significantly impacting WOC lives, our voices in the medical field are crucial. We are responsible for ourselves and for each other. To any WOC seeking treatment: until we represent a larger part of the healthcare industry, take your pain seriously because nobody else will. 

 

Art: TJ Agbo, Everything Under The Sun (2019)