"People in general tend to have this misconception that mental illnesses, whether it be anxiety, depression, schizophrenia etc. are all something to be embarrassed about, something to sweep under the bed and to try and ignore. However, you're not alone, frighteningly, 1 in 4 people will suffer from mental illness in a year. Mental illnesses, when left to manifest will strip a person of their personalities, and leave you feeling as if you're a shell of your former self. This is why it's important to raise awareness of mental health, to let people know they're not alone and always have someone to talk to. #GettingArtyForAnxiety is a way of expressing your own personalities, and to raise awareness for mental illness whether you're a sufferer yourself, or a family member."
I wanted my nail art to represent what having anxiety was like, which is what I did attempt to do. But I totally hated my design, so I ended up doing another one. I wasn't going to share the first one with you all, but I've decided that I will, seeing as I had a good reason for doing it in the first place. (Apologies for the rambling that just happened... and for all the rambling that is about to come!)
The first nail art design represents my experience with anxiety. This may not be at all how other sufferer's experiences have been so please don't take this as a generalised piece of information. There was a time in my life where I felt okay, and my life was filled with things I loved and that I was passionate about. This is what the yellow nail represents; yellow is a general happy colour and the dots show the things in my life. I then used yellow turning to orange showing things starting to change. I always think of orange as a colour that gives off the message "brace yourself for what's about to come"... I think because I always thought that the amber light on traffic lights meant "get ready" to either go or stop... see, there's logic in there somewhere! The orange to red transition represents panic attacks. For me personally, panic attacks have been a big part of my anxiety. Sometimes I will be able to sense if one is approaching, but a lot of the time they just come on out of no where. The red also represents humiliation, because whenever I have a panic attack in front of people, I feel so humiliated for days afterwards. The dark purple represents the way I feel, totally different to the "real me" and then lastly, the black shows the effect it can have on a person having to deal with anxiety. For myself and quite a few other people who I've spoken to with anxiety, it leaves you feeling very depressed and your head isn't in a good place at all. All the aspects of your life just merge in to one (hence the pink blob... It was one neat dot but I managed to smudge it and didn't notice until I uploaded the pictures!) and you're left feeling very lost.
My second nail design was to show that although life may not go the way we want it to and we may get put in situations which we really don't want to be in, we can make it work out okay. For me, the mint green colour isn't a colour I would usually wear on my nails, but by adding the peach coloured dots, I like the look a lot more. Similarly, having anxiety isn't something that I would have chosen to have, but by understanding the disorder a lot more and speaking up I don't find it such a 'horrific' thing to have. If you're struggling to cope with anxiety then please remember that it is manageable, it just takes time to find out what works out right for you. Don't lose sight of the things in life that make you happy and that you're passionate about, because if you let those things go, you will come to regret it. And no matter what, please don't feel as if you are alone in this battle, because you're not and there are so many people out there who are willing to listen... you just need to be willing to speak up.
I'm really sorry if parts of this post have got a bit serious, but I hope you can understand why! Please do go and have a look at everyone else's posts, and if you have any comments or questions then leave them below or send me a tweet @Sparks_serenity :) I hope you're all having a lovely week so far and I will speak to you very soon! Charlotte x
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