"am i too broken?" And other questions of this generation: a conversation with mental health advocate Aryana Altaha
Seventeen year old Aryana Altaha is just like any other high schooler: she is an avid speech and debater, K drama fan and academic weapon. Unlike most teenagers, however, Aryana is mental health advocate and author with a combined following of more than 85K followers on TikTok and Instagram.
We caught up with Aryana and asked her about her journey.
Why did you start your social media account?
I realized there was not much representation among youth about mental health on social media. This frustrated me because I struggled significantly with my mental health but it slowly improved.
When was struggling however, I genuinely thought that it would not improve.
I wish that I had that representation when I was struggling so that I knew that I was not hopeless.
I decided to be that representation for others.
What motivated you to write your book "am i too broken?" ?
I used to write poetry as a way to release all my pent up emotions, it was a great coping mechanism for me. Ive always wanted to release a book, but I actually released it because society views vulnerability and speaking up about their own emotions as weak. Its not.
Releasing this book meant I would be extremely vulnerable in front of thousands of people.
I was terrified.
But, I knew it was important to show people that vulnerability is not weak.
You are not alone and it does get better.
In the future Aryana hopes to be a motivational speaker, as well as starting a mental health business.
Currently, Aryana has released her book "am i too broken?" which contains 145 poems aiming to de-stigmatize mental health as well as recently launching a mental health discord which aims to be a safe space for individuals to vent, as well as providing the public with various mental health resources.
Purchase Aryanas book : a.co/d/5kCjZku
Join her discord: discord.gg/xqJ4E7MFSOCIALS:
Social Media:
Follow Aryana on Instagram [@askaryana]: https://www.instagram.com/ask.aryana/
Follow Aryana on TikTok[@ask.aryana] : tiktok.com/@askaryana?lang=en
Follow Aryana on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgi-2ciehYyw1JVqjNEKKrg
Follow Aryanas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryana-altaha/
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