At the end of October Irish model, Holly Carpenter shared an honest post about her mental health. Posting a picture to Twitter she shared; “Kept my sunnies on for most of the day yesterday because my eyes were bloodshot from crying.”
“I’ve struggled with my mental health since I was 20 and I’ve been on anti depressants since the age of 24.”
“Sometimes depression looks confident & happy.”
This super honest post from the former Miss Ireland created a conversation about mental health online, with many praising her for sharing how she was feeling.
Now she has spoken about it further in a new interview with the Sunday Independent.
When asked why she decided to be so candid with her feelings online she said; “I just had a moment where it all felt too much, and I was really honest in that moment.”
“I’d go on Instagram and I felt that there was a lot of positivity, but it’s this kind of toxic positivity, where people are like ‘no bad days, only good vibes, come on let’s get on with it, we can do this’.
“And I know that people are trying to help, but I just felt a bit sick of it.”
Holly went on to say that she didn’t want to feed into this false sense of positivity; “I thought, ‘I don’t want to come on my Instagram, and do that, and say to everyone, hey, we’re going to be fine’, because I don’t feel like that.”
“It’s just such a tough time and I think it’s OK to go ‘this is sh*t’. I don’t want to put up a picture of me doing yoga in my kitchen, with a slice of banana bread in my hand, pretending I’m OK, because I’m not.”
“There’s all these buzz-words around mental health. Like ‘it’s OK to not be OK’. But there’s nothing glamorous about it,” Holly continued.
“Sometimes it can be gritty, and painful, and embarrassing. You feel raw. And it’s scary. But once you just wade through that, there is light at the end of the tunnel; you just have to push through.”
“It’s not all about sitting cross-legged trying to meditate. It’s not Pinterest, it’s not Instagram, it’s actually real life and it’s sh*t.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has many people struggling with their mental health, perhaps some who never have before. This, combined with more time spent online than ever can have a seriously negative impact.
Holly also spoke about how to deal with this; “Don’t compare yourself to anyone, because everyone is struggling right now, even if it looks like they’re not.”
“Not everyone has their sh*t together right now, and that’s OK. And it’s OK if I feel like I don’t.”
If you have been affected by anything in this post or are struggling yourself, please visit:
https://www.aware.ie/support/support-line/
Or freephone Pieta House at: 1800 247 247.
