Here at CelebMix we are big advocates of mental health and encouraging people to talk about it. So when Gemma Styles launched her Find The Light campaign which aims to get more people starting conversations about mental, she has partnered with MQ Mental Research whose aim is “to “ create a world where mental illnesses are understood, effectively treated and one day made preventable.” and Kenmark Eyewear for the campaign.

We recently spoke to Gemma about the Find The Light campaign and were so inspired by the chat, that some of our team decided to share just what Find The Light means to them.

“Finding the light is in my opinion, one of the most difficult methods of self-introspection you can do. Recognizing that there are instances in which you can control, and others you cannot–learning how to take control over what you do have influence over vs. what you don’t, will save you from having panic attacks. There is always a lesson to be learned from the darkness, which only helps make us stronger and wiser.”

Finding the light is so important for me. It’s about battling mental health struggles, more specifically, my mental health struggles. It’s so important because whenever I wake up to see the sunrise… or go for a walk around sunset time. I feel like accomplished! I feel happy that I have made it through another day and have made it out of the dark times when it comes to mental health struggles. It means that there are happier and more positive times ahead of me. Whenever I start or end a day that has been better than the last, I take a minute to appreciate the ‘light’.

My light came 2nd December 2018 and then my light shone brightest on the 14th July 2019. I found out I was pregnant. At the time I was struggling to get of antidepressants I’d been on for 5 years, I was a mess of anxiety and lows, but the second I knew I was starting a journey to become a mum, everything changed. Suddenly I felt I could get off my medication, I could do anything because I was carrying my child. He’s now 15 months, and every day through the lows of lockdown, through post natal depression and other hard times, I look into his big blue eyes, and there’s the light. I will never be alone again (especially when I need the toilet, or a bath!)

I faced my first battle with mental health issues in the age of 12. Since I turned 34 this year, I am looking back at several battles, to keep my mental health in balance. Some days are rough, sometimes I face a week which is just not my friend. In situations like that, I start to doubt myself and then I feel a spiral coming, which wants to take me down the dark hole.

Sometimes I wish and hope for too much, or I want a certain thing to happen immediately, even I know it takes more time to get to it. So, because I start to be impatient at some point and I get frustrated, the negative thoughts- spiral is able to feed itself with negativity, which then will backfire on me in a quiet moment of the day.

It still isn’t the easiest task, but by now I have my own ‘method’ detach myself from situations and mindsets like these and learned how to shine a light on the positive things in my life to hold onto. It sounds easy to do, but its a process of a few days to remember and find the light back to the positive things in life.

I try to detach myself from this one nasty thought, which tries to eat me up. I leave the place I am physically in and change my surroundings. I take a walk, I treat myself with my favourite fancy drink, or a simply cup of tea. A hot bath to relax, while my favourite music is blasting out of the speakers… little things help me to calm down, to relax and to lift the negativity of my shoulders. If I am still a bit grumpy after all that, I take another step back and I remind myself how far I already made it.

I remind myself of how I faced my mental health issues for the very first time. All the rocks I had to climb in my life, the moments I thought: ‘I won’t ever make it’, but then I took the first step and I succeeded. I did struggle and it was everything else but easy, but to look back and finding the light again and to remember what I already accomplished in the past helps me out of this spiral, so I can get up again and keep going.

You can take part the Find The Light campaign in two ways:

You can share what it means to you by using the # in either a video, photo or caption on social media. Three winners will be chosen to win the special edition of Don’t Stop sunglasses in Caramel from Gemma’s latest collection. Or you can support the campaign by purchasing a pair of the special edition Don’t Stop Frames in Caramel, as 10% of proceeds from the sale of them will be donated to MQ Mental Health Research. Winners will be announced on 16 November. 

You can purchase Gemma’s sunglasses collection exclusively on Baxter and Bonny. And you can find out more about the fantastic work MQ Mental Health Research does here.

Let us know what Find the Light means to you, on @CelebMix!

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