Cara Franklin

I once thought that getting mental health help was a self-centered endeavor. Go see a psychologist, and you’ll be sitting on a couch, talking about yourself all day, about your childhood, and blaming others in your life for everything bad that happened to you. That’s not for me, I thought. I prefer to forgive all the things of the past and get back up again. And rather than think about myself so much, I thought, it’s better to focus on serving others.

In the summer of 2018, I got a college diploma, a wedding band, and a full-time job. It was one of the most joyous times of my life. But by the fall, I was totally exhausted. The transition to working life, to married life, to true adulthood had me stress-eating Cocoa Krispies and binge-watching Gilmore Girls. I went through yet another big life change last summer when my husband and I welcomed a baby girl during the pandemic.