Who is Emily Wu Truong (吳怡萱)?
My name is Emily Wu
Truong, and I recently became a Mental Health Advocate & Motivational Speaker in
July 2013. As an advocate, my passion is to alleviate the stigma and
discrimination on mental health in my community through speaking my mind. In my
personal time, I use social media (Facebook, Twitter), video blogging, journal
blogging, networking to bring attention to this cause. My activism also
includes volunteering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of
the San Gabriel Valley area, which is a nonprofit, dedicated to the educating
the public about mental illnesses and eradicating the stigma on mental health.
With NAMI-SGV, we are developing an Asian Outreach team to reach out and
educate our local Asian and Pacific Islander communities. I know there is much
to be done to educate everyone about mental health, but I have confidence that
the stigma on mental health will be alleviated.
I know that I by myself may not have the capacity to end the stigma, but
through inspiration, education, and understanding, I hope that everyone will
learn that mental health truly
matters and that each mind matters.
So why does mental health
matter so much to me? Well, here is why I am passionate about mental health
issues along with my story.
I first and foremost
believe that every single person on
the face of this Earth deals with mental health issues because I believe that… Mental Health is learning how to stay sane in
this insane world. It is learning to be in touch with our emotions &
feelings, and to enjoy the roller coaster of life without being discouraged by
the adversities in life.
When I was growing
up, I was told that if I were to share my problems with other people, doing so
would bring shame to myself and to my family. However, I most of the time disregarded
this idea when I would write letters to my friends. I had
to communicate and express my feelings and thoughts through writing. Writing
and journaling was one of the few ways of self-expression I could rely on as a
child to deal with my frustrations in life, especially when I felt like no one
was listening to me.
There are so many
stories I could tell you about my life, but I will be doing that in an
autobiography to be published somewhere down the line. However, I will tell you this – I went through my
public school system without anyone ever thinking that anything was ever wrong
with me, but really, I was a traumatized student. I was the quiet,
well-mannered, sometimes shy student who kept to herself for most of the time.
My classmates would sometimes call me “teacher’s pet,” but most everyone else –
my classmates and so-called friends – would seem to size me up, spread rumors
about me, and put me down to make them feel like they were better than me. Do I think I was bullied while growing up?
Unfortunately, yes.
After moving from El Dorado, Arkansas, from a town of mostly African Americans and Caucasians, to San Marino, a place of mostly wealthy Asians and Caucasians, I quickly learned how superficial, dishonest, cruel, and unfair my classmates could be. The different dramas I dealt with in different types of relationship made me long for the days my family and I lived in Arkansas. There, we had peace and happiness. My parents found places to sightsee for us kids to have fun. All of my traumatic circumstances after having moved to the San Gabriel Valley made it so that I had wished our family had never moved to California.
After moving from El Dorado, Arkansas, from a town of mostly African Americans and Caucasians, to San Marino, a place of mostly wealthy Asians and Caucasians, I quickly learned how superficial, dishonest, cruel, and unfair my classmates could be. The different dramas I dealt with in different types of relationship made me long for the days my family and I lived in Arkansas. There, we had peace and happiness. My parents found places to sightsee for us kids to have fun. All of my traumatic circumstances after having moved to the San Gabriel Valley made it so that I had wished our family had never moved to California.
The traumas and dramas I dealt with when growing up as
a child eventually caused me to become my own worst enemy, my own worst critic, which prevented me from realizing how intelligent and bright I have really been. I
used to believe that perfection existed, and that the only way to succeed was to always get everything right the first time. I was led to believe that nothing was good enough unless it was perfect. Because of my illusion of perfection, I grew up diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
Now looking at where we are in present day, we actually are living in exciting times here in the United States.
Although we are just in the beginning of our Mental Health Movement in trying
to understand the brain, we at least live in a time where our own President
Obama recently stated at the June 3rd, 2013 National Conference on
Mental Health,
I completely
agree.
As a result, now is the time
for us to see. That regardless of our age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, or
sexual orientation, an individuals’ issues with their sanity and mental health
are not something to be belittled. I believe that every single individual’s
problems are no better and no worse than anyone else’s problems. Problems on
different levels and types are not comparable. So even though the Republicans
and the Democrats, the poor and the rich, the unpopular and the popular, the
people of the Occupy movements may be blaming everyone else for each other’s’
problems, what life all boils down to is our sanity and mental health. Ultimately,
who is the one who can give you your sanity? Do you leave it in the hands of
society, or do you leave it in the hands of your own heart? The choice is
yours.
We may wish and hope that our elected government officials would always remember
that they are public servants working for the people, but also understand and
know that leaders are capable of
making mistakes too. Anyone and everyone is capable of making mistakes… We are
all works in progress no matter what stage we’re at in life.
I believe it is up to each individual to find out where his/her true
potential in life lies. It is up to each individual find the courage
to develop inner peace & get to know him/herself and understand he/she is.
As Marianne Williamson said…
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our
deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
Lastly, I want to share
with you a piece of writing that I worked on a few years ago back in February
2010.
We Are All Works in Progress
By Emily Wu
Know how to help yourself before
you can truly help anyone else.
Set an example for others if you
know how.
However, I know this is a constant
life-long learning process.
So you don't have to be perfect
because we are all works-in-progress.
There are lessons to be learned in
everything that we face from day to day.
Without these lessons, we don't
challenge ourselves to be better than who we already are.
So work on being the best person
you can be.
See your true potential in life.
Know that you don't have to have
all the answers right now.
It takes time to find the answers
to life.
So just chill & relax from time
to time.
Take a moment to breathe & just
be with yourself.
Know that you were made for success
in this life.
You can reach your highest
potential if you just believe in it.
Have confidence in yourself.
I have confidence in you.
©2009 Emily Wu 吳怡萱
