Chase Your Dream—Even With Mental Illness

If you've been following my blog, you might be wondering: What does a clothing brand have to do with mental health?

Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. After my first major emotional episode, everything changed. There’s a saying: The purpose of your suffering is to help others. That stuck with me. It’s one reason I’ve made it my personal mission to advocate for mental health awareness.

Mental illness has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My mom developed schizophrenia two months after I was born. She was hospitalized three times before I turned five.

Even as a child, I could feel people looking at me differently—whispering behind my back, calling me “that lunatic’s daughter.” I learned to keep my head down and hide my feelings. I became a people pleaser. My grandma told me not to upset my mom because she was sick. My dad was told the same. So I learned to tiptoe around emotions.

In that kind of environment, I never learned how to process my feelings in a healthy way. I denied them, hid them, lied about them. On the outside, I looked agreeable and calm. But inside, I was holding everything in.

My pre-teen and teenage years were rough. I fell into deep depressions more than once—in my early twenties, after I moved from China to the U.S., and again in my early thirties, after the Y2K tech bubble burst. Trying to find your footing in a new country is hard. Losing your job over and over isn’t easy either.

Then, in my late thirties, came the perfect storm. I had a major episode that landed me in a psychiatric hospital. (I’ll share more about that in a future post.)

As strange as it sounds, being hospitalized was a blessing. I spent a week in a mental health and addiction facility and continued treatment as an outpatient for two more months. That was the turning point. That’s when the healing began.

I’ll go deeper into that journey another day. Today, I want to leave you with this:

Mental illness can be a curse—but it can also be a gift. It forces you to see the world differently. The darkness makes you appreciate the light. And it teaches you not to waste energy where it doesn’t serve you. Because energy is powerful. It can destroy—but if you learn to harness it, it can also build.

So let’s chase our dreams and build something beautiful. Together.