Strength & Hope Through Storytelling
By Anna Andersen
The power of self-love created a space for healing and acceptance, and helped me find my empowered voice.
I struggled with self-doubt, fear, and lack of confidence in work and school, as well as mental health. I was diagnosed with bipolar, OCD, and anxiety back in 2021. However, through these struggles and personal journeys, I found strength and hope.
I learned the power of strong emotional intelligence when I decided that, instead of feeling pity for myself, and regardless how hard the journey is, I’m willing to get better. Beginning the process of healing, I started medication and therapy, talked to a mental health professional, and even connected with people who have similar stories to mine.
Beyond medication and therapy, I found my greatest healing through connecting and storytelling. I started a podcast called Safe Space where I interview people across the world about growing up, LGBT mental health, identity, purpose, confidence, self-love, and personal journeys.
I ask questions like… What got you through your struggle? What was it like growing up with bipoc identity? What challenges did you face? What would you say to your younger self? What do you love about yourself?
My main purpose for my podcast is for others to feel connected, healed, inspired, and empowered. With most of my interviewees, I’ve found that talking with them also made me feel less alone and reminded me that there is hope at the end of the tunnel. I even got to interview someone from Hong Kong who also had bipolar disorder and we connected on a personal level.
I learned that storytelling creates a community, amplifies other’s voices, and empowers them to share their own stories. I believe storytelling creates social change and impacts people’s lives in a positive way.
I found that storytelling creates human empathy, and by hearing others’ stories, I found a way to be more empathetic toward myself. Storytelling through my podcast also helped me with self-acceptance. I accepted my struggle with bipolar disorder, OCD, and anxiety while I grew in my self-worth and gained courage to tell my story.
Because of storytelling, I was able to come to a place where I stopped saying mean things to myself. Now, I go up to a mirror every day to say affirmations about who I am. I journal, take myself out on dates, and take care of my body and mind. Self-care is self-love.
Of course, I still struggle with self-doubt, fear, and confidence at work and school. Every semester I’m overwhelmed and feel anxiety about how well I’ll do with my grades and my job.
But I’ve learned a couple things that make it easier now. I now realize that I’ve made it through many semesters before, so I can get through the next one, too, and even learn more as I move forward. In addition, I’ve realized that my work performance and my grades don’t define me. Of course, I want to succeed, but I’ve found growth and progress to be more important and to have more meaning for me. I learned that the journey of learning and growing impacts me more. A growth mindset is a powerful mindset.
In conclusion, I find that self-love is a journey, there will be good and bad days, but if I'm growing just a bit a day, then I know I'm on the right path. If I'm healing, empowering, and accepting myself and others more every day, I’m succeeding.
In addition, through my podcast, I’ve gained a passion for helping other people show their strengths and bring out the best aspects of them. It overweighs fear of being judged and being misunderstood. It creates a place of growth, learning, and self-worth. I have a passion to uplift people and give them a platform to tell their story.
With my story I hope to inspire many others to tell their story and reflect on how they discovered their journey of self-love. I’d like to end with a quote by Les Brown: Love yourself unconditionally the way you love those closest to you.
If you’d like to connect with Anna, you can find her on Instagram at @AnnaSunshine923 or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-marie726/.
