My Mental Health Journey

I grew up in a family that strongly focused on economic and financial matters, other than those, nothing was important. So after graduating from high school, I studied finance. Three months later, I got a job and worked in a bank as a full-time employee. I have worked for the bank for about 30 years in 4 different cities, i.e. Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai and Hong Kong. As living in Hong Kong was quite challenging, especially in communication with others, I began to learn psychology and mental health by myself. During the prolonged COVID pandemic, I came across Mind HK on my social media page which attracted me to learn more about mental health and stigma, so I joined the ambassador training.

As my background was in finance, I knew nothing about psychology or mental health struggles, and I had no idea they could cause physical pain. My family also said that psychologists were only for “crazy people” (note: people with mental health struggles are often stigmatised due to the public’s lack of awareness and understanding). However, I noticed since I started working in Hong Kong about 10 years ago, I had difficulty communicating with colleagues. During the pandemic, working from home and mid-life crisis simultaneously brought me a peak of complicated feelings: I felt lonely, scared, stressed, unhappy, easily irritated, anxious and panicked. By that time, I learnt little by little about behavioural patterns and mental health, in combination with religious teachings and ways to wellbeing, to cope with my negative feelings. Moreover, I was being supported by some friends, and I became more active in participating in the community to meet more people and listen to their problems. I’m still learning to deal with my mixed feelings but my overall emotional well-being now is better, more positive and calmer. As people say, mental health is a journey, it is a process.