Mental Health is often considered a rumour. A hushed-up topic discussed with little to no concern for the affected. I am trying to change this notion. Are you?

Let's start at the very beginning. No, I don't mean for us to start singing like Julie Andrews but from the 'real' beginning. Our beginning.

Before all the industrialization and globalization and the wars and colonization, our ancestors were only focused on eating fresh organic fruits without the blanket of pesticides where they slept in forests under the starlight embracing nature instead of the soft pillows, we use today to mask our loneliness.

Then man wanted more and more so he took and took. There used to be a time when the earth was green, but now it's all gassy. Forests were turned into tissue paper manufacturing industries and all the animals who lived there were turned away. But then we came up with a brilliant idea to take these homeless animals, pump them full of 'stuff' and then bring in humans to point at them and click pictures with them for money! I believe that mankind would have seen its last ages ago if only 'zoo-minded' people were left in charge. Fortunately enough we also have people who thought of respecting the sentiments of animals and decided to maintain their lands only for them.

We call them sanctuaries.

A beautiful place to visit to see animals in their natural habitat where they walk the way they were always meant to. They are not only sheltered but they are also protected from poachers and diseases. They are provided for, and looked after rather than put in cages as showpieces.

Sanctuaries are often called safe-havens. It is a place of refuge from pursuit, persecution and other dangers. If I had the ability to conduct the Vogue 73 questions with the zoo animals and the ones who stay in sanctuaries, I think I know which residents would have a more happy and more well-settled life. After all, no one likes prisons.

Being imprisoned when innocent is one of the worst punishments no being should have to face. Sometimes society holds you captive, but, at times, the hands that handcuff our hands, are our own. Our mind is capable of recalling the past, planning our future, saving information and performing intricate activities. Even after being used so much it still manages to manage complex social relationships.

Unfortunately, our mind also acts as a barrier between us and our sanity. It demands more than we can offer, it places harsher criticism than that random lady in the apartment complex, it stops functioning when required most and is often the one to pull us back into our room of negative thoughts rather than push us out of it.

The mind or as I call it our personal zoo, where our deeper, more real and good emotions are caged is visited and laughed at by our insecurities, bad habits, self-doubt and unending guilt. The difference between us and those poor animals is the development of our brains. If we can turn our minds into a prison, we can also be the ones to liberate ourselves. In order to do that, we need to escape the cage and try to find the way to our own sanctuary. A sanctuary where we can be protected against the pursuit of worldly lies and fight persecution of unprecedented expectations. A safe haven.

Our own safe haven.

The journey to create your own sanctuary can be confusing where the GPS will keep on rerouting but you won't be alone. I will be here. In my sanctuary. Offering you space safe enough to unload your burden and continue on your path ahead. I will act as that random traveller's inn you find by miracle after a tedious journey. No judgements, no cages. Just a safe, cosy, small, serene, humble hut.

Julie Andrews said that when you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything and I believe her. When you are able to realise your problem, you will most certainly find a way to get over it. I am here for you. From today onwards the doors of my sanctuary are open to the ones who are honest with themselves. Rest under the shade of the non-judgemental trees of my sanctuary for as long as you like. Rest. Just rest.

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