About Me
Hello and welcome to Healing on the Road!
My name is Chelsea (she/her) and I’ve lived with depression and anxiety since I was a teen. From childhood trauma to high school bullying, mental health issues made it pretty difficult for me to navigate adolescence. When I got to adulthood I realized that there was so much I needed to unpack, unlearn, and reparent which led me to therapy, medication, and even a 10 week rehab program. During rehab, things began to fall into place. But it wasn’t until my late 20’s that I really started to see that while depression and anxiety might be with me for the rest of my life, it doesn’t have to be a daily, hourly, minute by minute, battle.
However, there’s more to me than just my depression story! I’m an Asian American/mixed race woman who loves climbing, trail running, backpacking, writing, and acting. After spending a year on the road, in our homemade trailer with my partner, dog, and cat, we have begun to settle down in sunny San Diego, exploring all that Southern California has to offer.
About Healing on the Road
I’m not a doctor or a licensed professional but I have learned a lot over the years and have had, and continue to have, the privilege of access to mental health resources like therapists, psychiatrists, and rehab that many folks do not. Our stories as women of color are underrepresented in the mental health world and our struggles with mental illness are unique to the white status quo. So while I’m on my lifelong search for ways to make living with depression and anxiety easier, I’ve decided to share my discoveries as well as my struggles.
With this blog, I want to share the lessons I’ve learned and the tools and skills I use to cope. I want to uncover and understand the what’s, how’s, and why’s of the intersections of race, mental health, and the outdoors. But more than anything, I want to provide tidbits of hope for people living with mental health issues, to help people believe that a fulfilling life with depression and anxiety is possible.