by IIf you feel that your mental health is under attack, you are not alone. From the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of violence against Asia and blacks, it is easy to feel that the world is swallowing everyone up. Despite the endless parade of despair on screens and social streams, Gen Z activists and content creators are cultivating deliberate websites.
One such creator is Kim Saira (@kimsaira), a 21-year-old queer Filipino graphic designer who uses her platform to focus on Asian joy and prosperity. “My biggest motivation να is to know how radical [joy] “They are, especially for marginalized people, like many Asians.” “We have been through so much turmoil for the last two years and the concept of rest and joy is really so radical because we are set to believe it is not ours.”
Syra is right. Recent data show that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of violence against Asia by 339 percent and, according to a poll conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), Gen Z was less likely to report very good or excellent mental health. health. IIn the face of such enormous difficulty, the Gen Z often responds with resilience and creativity. So, for Mental Health Awareness Month, Instagram is collaborating with Gen Z Our Era magazine to highlight Saira and three other emerging creators who use social media to highlight prosperity.
Below, Saira spoke to Well + Good about how she prioritizes taking care of herself and how her values affect her work.
Your work focuses on AAPI joy and relaxation. What are some things that really make you happy?
I feel empowered to do things that give me joy, for example, reading, skating or going to the beach, but I am very workaholic. I’m very attached to my office, and I’m attached to social media. But when I think about it, investing in your rest is a form of release. And when I think about it, I say, “I’m going to put my shit down and go hang out with my friends.”
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How do you ensure that you keep some creativity to yourself — or that work and creative play go hand in hand?
Wow, that’s a very good question. It combines a lot because my artwork – creative art and mission – is very much in line with who I am as a person, so it is not difficult for me to produce. But I also recognize that I am in a privileged position where I work for myself and do not create for someone else’s approval. I do not create and I do not have anyone to approve my work.
“At a certain time of day, I’m offline. You’ll not catch me on the internet.”
How do you prioritize taking care of yourself and setting boundaries around work and leisure?
Most of what I do is largely in the service of the community. And I drain if I do not give priority to my limits, especially on social media, because that is the medium I use. At a certain time of day, I’m offline. You will not catch me on the Internet. I definitely have limits on the weekends. The limits of social media are important to me.
Another thing I do to center and ground myself is just to spend moments of absolute silence. I have to be with myself and myself to be able to write what I feel. Often when I do not pause, I lose intent. I forget why I do things.
What practices do you have in place to say when you need to recharge?
I have ADD, but I also tried to have some kind of discipline with a very short meditation practice every day. Right now, it’s about three to five minutes, so I can observe what’s going on inside my head. So I have a meditation practice. I try to be disciplined in this.
The second thing is that I allow myself to get angry. If I feel angry or sad, there is no way I can keep it to myself. I will literally put time in my diary and say, “Okay, turn it all off. You will be crazy right now. So I’m scheduling real things in my calendar because if they’re not there, I’ll not really find the time to do it. I will repel the feeling.
If people could take away a feeling about mental health and self-care from you, what would it be?
To be honest with you, many people do not have access to treatment, nor does it work for everyone. This is the truth and it is true. So, just understanding that healing has become a common word, commercialized in a sense, but really what is at its core, in my opinion, is going back to what makes you understand and learn about yourself. your.
The quotation marks have been processed and condensed for the sake of clarity.
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