Friday, October 9, 2026

Still Here

On World Mental Health Day, a CLAC staffer shares lessons learned from living through difficult days, and what can help when life feels like too much.

There’s a reason we need a World Mental Health Day.

There’s a world of us.

A world of people getting out of bed in the morning carrying things nobody else can see. People going to work while grieving. People raising children while struggling themselves. People living with trauma, anxiety, depression, burnout, loneliness, or fear. People trying to stretch a paycheque far enough to cover the mortgage, groceries, gas, childcare, and everything else life requires. People who look perfectly fine.

Mental health struggles don't always arrive dramatically. Trauma doesn't always necessarily come from one catastrophic event that divides your life neatly into a before and an after. Sometimes it's subtle. Sometimes it's death by a thousand cuts.

One difficult experience. Then another. A loss. A disappointment. A frightening moment. A financial setback. A family crisis. A demanding job. Another bill. Another responsibility. Another thing that needs you when you already feel like there's nothing left to give. You carry it because that's what people do. Until one day your mind—or sometimes your body—tells you that you can't carry it the same way anymore.

I've learned some things from those days. I'm not a mental health professional and this isn't medical advice. It's simply what living with mental health struggles has taught me.

And on World Mental Health Day, I'm sharing it in case someone out there needs to hear it.

1. Sometimes a stranger can help save your life

There are moments when life can hurt. Your thoughts get dark. Your brain tells you things that aren't helpful or safe. You may feel as though nobody could possibly understand what is happening inside your head.

This is why 988 is such an important resource.

Across Canada, you can call or text 988, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if you're having thoughts of suicide, feeling hopeless, or struggling to cope. A trained responder will listen without judgement and help you find a way through the moment.

Think of it as mental health first aid when you're in crisis.

Sometimes you don't want anyone around you to hear. Sometimes forming words feels impossible. Sometimes typing I need help is all you can manage.

You don't have to solve your life in that moment. You just need to get through it.

2. Listen to your body

Your body knows things. I learned this the frightening way.

About a year ago, after a heavy and stressful month, my body started telling me that something was up. My heart was racing and my chest felt tight, I was dizzy, I had trouble sleeping, and I felt generally unwell. Something felt wrong. At one point, I genuinely wondered whether I was having a heart attack.

I called 911. Eventually, I ended up in the emergency room.

Turns out it was a panic attack.

My mind had been trying to cope with too much, and eventually my body started screaming what I hadn't been able to say.

Listen when your body whispers so it doesn't have to scream.

Mental health doesn't exist only in your head. Sometimes distress shows up as a pounding heart, exhaustion, nausea, headaches and migraines, dizziness, muscle tension, sleeplessness, or a vague feeling that something simply isn't right.

Most importantly, don't assume a physical symptom is “just” anxiety. New or concerning symptoms deserve medical attention.

Your body is part of you.

Listen to it.

3. Tell your doctor the truth

Tell your doctor exactly what’s happening. Start jotting down symptoms, thoughts, and times and dates in your Notes app and bring it with you to your doctor. If your doctor has a long waitlist, try your nearest walk-in clinic.

Tell the medical professionals that you aren't sleeping. Tell them you're panicking. Tell them you can't stop crying. Tell them you're having thoughts that scare you. Tell them you're struggling to function.

Your doctor isn't there to grade you on how well you're coping, they're there to help you.

Mental health is health. There is no prize for suffering quietly, and there is no point in stretching the truth when honesty could literally save your life.

4. Make your world smaller

This may be the lesson I have to relearn most often.

When I'm overwhelmed, my brain likes to present me with everything at once: Work. Family. Finances. Appointments. Responsibilities. The state of the world.

Suddenly I'm mentally carrying problems that haven't happened yet alongside the ones that are actually in front of me.

That's when I have to make my world smaller.

What do I need to do right now?

Maybe I just need to answer one email.

Maybe I need to reach out to a trusted friend.

Maybe I need to eat something.

Maybe I need to take a shower.

Maybe I need to get through the next hour.

Maybe I just need to breathe.

5. Go outside

Seriously. Go outside.

If you're able, walk.

Find some trees. Sit beside water. Stand in the sunshine. Feel cold air on your face. Listen to birds. Look up at the sky instead of down at a screen. I find being alone in the woods incredibly grounding and restorative.

Sometimes I need a long walk. Sometimes it's five minutes outside. Sometimes it's sitting somewhere quiet and taking a few deep breaths. It doesn't fix everything, but not everything needs to be fixed in that moment.

Sometimes you just need enough space to find yourself again.

6. Remember that sometimes life really is hard

We talk a lot about resilience. We talk about coping strategies, mindfulness, exercise, sleep, gratitude, therapy, medication, boundaries, and self care, and those things can be (and are) incredibly valuable. But sometimes we’re trying to teach people to breathe deeply when they’re wondering how they’re going to afford groceries for their kids that week. It’s expensive to simply exist right now, and many Canadians are reporting financial difficulty.

Financial stress follows you everywhere. It hovers above you work. It changes how you parent, how you sleep, how you relate to your partner, and how safe the future feels.

Sometimes poor mental health isn't evidence that you're failing to cope with life. Sometimes life is genuinely difficult.

Give yourself some grace, and remember:

There’s a world of us.

Maybe that's what I most want someone to know this World Mental Health Day.

There's a world of us.

People who are sitting in ER with racing hearts. People who are grieving. People who are texting a stranger because speaking feels impossible. People who are standing in the woods trying to remember how to breathe. People who look perfectly functional from the outside while fighting battles nobody knows about.

And people who are still here.

Mental health struggles can convince us that we need to figure everything out before we can feel okay again. We don't. Sometimes we only need to find the next small thing:

Tell the truth.

Call the doctor.

Text 988.

Step outside.

Eat something.

Drink some water.

Sit in the sunshine.

Make it through the hour. Then make it through another.

There is a whole world out there.

And you're still part of it.

If you are thinking about suicide or struggling to cope, call or text 988, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time. If your safety is at immediate risk or you have seriously harmed yourself, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department.

Still Here

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