#StateOfMyMind (THE CALL)

I might end up not going straight into why this blog post was made, if I were to start with my own depression story and currently messed up psychological health I might not even finish. So I will save it all for another time. Till then, let’s just jump right into it.

For the past couple of weeks, you would have noticed that a particular twitter trend, #StateOfMyMind, has been popping up on your timelines, with different participants expressing how they feel, sometimes jovial, sometimes really serious, and we had some very insightful and touching blog posts;

State of my mind. ” Innate Outlook ” http://wp.me/p4ocsD-4z via @kwakuanansee

#StateOfMyMind http://wp.me/p3SFr3-bq via @MsAnarfi

The Importance of the Choice (#StateOfMyMind) http://wp.me/p3lVEB-iO via @_Akotowaa

#StateOfMyMind http://wp.me/p5kid0-c via @sirkaymo

Altogether, you might be wondering what this is all about, and some may have figured out already. But in all situations, this post is to clear the clouds and get some rays  shining on the purpose of #StateOfMyMind.

We happen to live in a society where not much is done about mental and psychological health issues such as stress, depression, the feeling of social exclusion, mental exhaustion and the likes. I could go on with different instances but let’s save it and talk more about what this project intends to address. There are a lot of people around us who are going through a lot, psychologically and mentally but are either;

1. not sure of what to do
2. Afraid to share what they are going thru for the fear of being ridiculed or seen as weak
3. oblivious to their conditions, brushing them off as “just feelings”

Whichever way you spin it, it all boils down to the fact that there aren’t enough structures for us to channel what’s bothering us, especially being ridiculed when we speak out or try to, about the things that mentally disturbs us. What are we doing about it?? Should we allow this to go on?? Should we keep “being strong” like the Africans we are?? This shouldn’t be the case at all, because people are dying from it in all senses (suicide in Ghana is a thing). In Amma’s words:

“Ghana ha deɛ yɛnni time for saa nneɛma no o. Deɛn ne depression ne saa deɛ ɛkekakeka ho no?? Aborɔfo na wɔnnom wɔ saa adaagyeɛ for things like that o. Nti gyae gyimie no koraa na pɛ nsuo bi nom. Kɔm de wo a wose depression!”

such response are cankers and are eating us up. What are we doing about this?

This is why, Ladies and gentlemen, this project, STATE OF MY MIND is here. To provide a platform for us all to speak out and share our experiences with that which “kills”, and to eventually kill

#StateOfMyMind will be in various Phases. The first phase, the reason for this announcement, is a spoken word video. One in which I will hit on psychological issues like stress, depression et al, and all that I think about it. But this time, I want the video to be a collage of people’s stories too, and their states of mind. By that I mean I want you guys to be a part of this video, with your version of your #StateOfMyMind story in the form of texts, videos, audios, pictures, artworks which I will collate and include in the video. So Ladies and Gentlemen, this is where I make that call. i want you to share your story with me and tell us your state of mind with any of these

1. video (30secs long)
2. text (300 characters)
3. pictures
4. audio(20seconds long)
5. art works and photography depicting a state of mind

Submissions are in two categories (you can do just one or all of them, totally your choice)

1. to share your story and state of mind
2. message of encouragement to lift someone’s spirit

And you can choose to be anonymous or not. Do send your contributions to:

• poetykprynx@gmail.com or
• whatsapp +233-573-875-982,

Deadline is the 30th May, 2016. Lets share the experience together, let’s all take this first bold step of this journey we are about to start.

Before I draw the curtains on this blog post, I would love to use this opportunity to make an open call to all mental health institutions in Ghana and other related stakeholders, to come on board and push the project forward because, it’s about time we tackled this issue. If you are reading this post and you know of any institution that needs to be on board, please do draw their attention to this.

I look forward to receiving your submissions, oh! and don’t forget to share and tell your friends about this. Let’s all be a part of this!

And to close this, in the Words of my flyest Novelist and poet; Ivana:

” never fear that you don’t have a choice; and every time you feel like the breath is going out of you, CHOOSE LIFE, always. God loves you. I love you”

i love you all. seriously, i love you all.

-Poetyk Prynx