RUFF EDGE COLLECTIVE

Today I want to take some time to bring awareness to a topic that is very important to me. I want to talk about Mental Health Awareness and do something that I’ve never done before, which is to share my story with the public.

I have never been officially diagnosed for mental illness but I’ve had my fair share of anxiety and depressive episodes over the years due to substance abuse and alcoholism that carried on over the years, along with an incredibly negative environment and abusive social circle. I used to spend days in bed without getting up, without showering or eating. I used to drink a whole bottle of alcohol to my face. I used to do drugs with “friends” who were only taking advantage of me. I used the drugs to get me high and ignore my lows, only to feel worse than I already did once the high wore off.

What changed was that I started to remove the negativity and toxicity from my life. I cut myself off from those who were using me, I started to only drink socially (which was rarely ever because I became a homebody for a while) and I also met the love of my life who made me want to change my habits and lifestyle so that I could become the man that she deserves. I also work healthcare security and last year at work I witnessed a traumatic incident which affected me - I was offered a counselling session by my employer to talk about what I saw and how I felt about it and honesty, going to that session changed a lot for me. I didn’t attend a counselling session after that but I had a new outlook on life.

Now I would say that I have been in a great mental state for the last year. I am at a point in my life where I can say that I’m happy and that I look forward to what the future has in store for me.

I created this “Mental Health Matters” design (available in hoodie, crewneck, t-shirt, etc) which when purchased, 50% of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Mental Health Association!

@ruffedgecollective on ig

To celebrate the launch of our collective, we decided to order some hoodies for the team.

Here’s a quick sneak peak,

RUFF EDGE COLLECTIVE

Who are the Ruff Edge Collective?

To have rough edges means that one has their flaws but are always working on themselves.

We are a group of like-minded creatives who are constantly working to improve ourselves and our crafts, whether it’s photography, poetry, music, videography, etc.