Are you constantly sad, upset? #letstalkaboutit

You might have seen the PSA video on Mental Health Awareness Day that my team uploaded on Astro Awani's Facebook page a couple of days ago. We have gotten many comments and feedback, particularly on how the issue is not being looked into properly, and you feel like no one is reaching out to you, despite the awareness.

Allow me to share something about mental illness. It's not something that we can see. It is not a swollen knee, not hair loss, not cancer. So should you feel like you need help, you need to #reachout.

I am speaking very much from personal experience. When you are sad, even for a very long time, people will naturally, have the tendency to assume that it is just, solely, sadness. Time will heal. It's just a phase. It's just feelings. Feelings will go away, eventually.

Yes, we want people to be more sensitive. That is one side of the campaign. But we also want you to know, that there is this group of people, and one of them is me, are the ones people will just say, or assume "He/She can handle it. He/She'll bounce back."

Don't get me wrong; I have strong peer support, and my squad has always been by my side. But there is a limit to how many times you talk about your feelings, isn't it? After a while, you feel that you are fine... you should be fine! And talking about it over and over again, will not only make you feel weak, but at the same time, you are scared that it might annoy people around you.

As much as we are urging for the society to be more aware of this matter, emotional and mental health management is your own right and responsibility too. Now this is why you need to #reachout.

There are NGOs that provide such help, such as Befrienders. You can call, walk in, email, anything. All you need to do is #reachout.

One of the volunteers told me (bless her soul) once, and I quote "You can call in anytime. Talk about it as many times as you want. You might talk to different people each time, and talk about the same thing over and over again, but it's okay. Talking about it, helps."