It’s the last day of Mental Health Awareness Month before Pride Month kicks off tomorrow.
Something about the transition between the two feels like there should be a certain significance for me.
Sometimes it’s funny to think about how major themes like mental health and pride get dedicated months to be honored as they do. Not that they don’t deserve them – it’s just that my chronic mental illness and my queerness deserve the same amount of love and attention the other eleven months of the year, too.
As I think about the transition from today to tomorrow, though, I think there’s some beauty to it. I do believe my mental health bleeds into the way I’m able to exist as a queer person. And most times, being queer has given me the serotonin boost I need to feel steady, stable, seen, and ultimately, stay smiley.
That said, it’s impossible to ignore that it works in reverse too. Navigating grief, loss, trauma, heartbreak – for me, the worst of it comes when hardship hits my queer loved ones. Though the ruptured relationships in my own life due to my queerness are a close runner-up.
So as we soak up the last hours of Mental Health Awareness Month and enter the warm embrace of Pride for the next 30 days, let’s stay loud as fuck this month. And nurture the softness that shows up too.
Seriously though. Remind your straight friends that they should be buying you flowers. Sending you Spotify songs at least once a week to prove their allyship (be critical when judging their song selections). Pay attention to whether they show up for you just a little extra to match the way you pour into them year-round.
Take extra PTO. Play hooky because the right employers will actually understand that. Wear only your gayest fits. Splurge a little extra. Support queer-owned businesses. Attend all the Pride events that bring you joy. Go for walks to Hollywood Beach. Kiss more girls. Love on your partner if you have one – everywhere, anywhere, all the time.
And once those 30 days inevitably pass way faster than we wish they would, let’s sustain that energy and continue taking up space for the other 335 days too. We all deserve that.
Happy Pride, my queerios! 🌈
Hawaiian Princess Pieces 