When Healing Makes You Less Palatable
There is a quiet expectation, woven through much of the way we talk about mental health, that healing should look soft. That as we grow, we become calmer, more agreeable, easier to be around. The image is one of gentle self-awareness, of someone who has “done the work” and now moves through the world with a polished steadiness. However, for many people, particularly those of us who exist outside of normative identities, this expectation can feel inaccurate and actively alienating.
The Quiet Creep of Burnout
Burnout rarely arrives all at once. It tends to seep in quietly, threading itself through everyday life until what once felt manageable begins to feel heavy, relentless, and oddly joyless. Many people I work with describe a sense that they should be coping better, that nothing is dramatically wrong, and yet everything feels harder than it used to. This slow erosion is often overlooked, particularly by those who are carrying a disproportionate share of responsibility at home alongside work and emotional labour.
Keep Angry, Mind the Noggin
Talking about mental health right now often requires starting with honesty about the world we are living in. War fills our screens with devastation and grief. Climate change brings a steady drumbeat of warnings about environmental collapse and political failure. In the United States, the actions of ICE and the treatment of migrants continue to raise serious human rights concerns. When you believe in justice, safety and dignity for all, these headlines land emotionally with weight.