It’s time to put on a dress and celebrate, because next week November 2021 starts and that is a big deal for me.
I celebrate my 20 year anniversary of “my second life” after my suicide attempt at the age of 20.
Back then I could not imagine that I would have come this far in my life and all these wonderful things would happen to me. My children, university degree, PhD, post-doc, my advocacy and so much more.
Also, the first Flourish Maastricht meeting will take place to support and promote academic mental health at my local campus.
I will give several lectures on academic mental health and meet up with people from other universities in the Netherlands and abroad too. When we work in a team and learn from each other, we can achieve bigger things and we can create more change.
Exactly one year ago in November 2020 I have received the phone call from NWO that I got the VENI and so much has happened during the last 12 months. That it changed my life is not even exaggerated.
I started my blog annaschueth.com at the beginning of 2021 and shared many stories from myself and others on academic mental health, stopped covering up my tattoos and became more “who I really am”.
This may sound silly, but let`s celebrate life. Every single day.
Hi Anna. There were times when i felt alone. Like literally. I used to overthink about how it went this bad and where did i go wrong. A lot of ifs. At the end of the day, i was so desperate to talk with someone who went through the same struggle as me. Being a bit introvert, i found it difficult to make connections too. Being rebuked by some friends for being weak, rude, selfish and insensitive, i really hit rock bottom and put a knife on my wrist. I still used to think how i managed to get out of this situation. But here I am, very much alive and fighting. I’m still learning the resilience of human mind. And I’m slowly discovering a community who went through similar situation as myself. Its very inspiring to see it. And I’m glad to read your blog. I don’t feel alone anymore.