The Blog Wants to Know: May 2025

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and with the end-of-school year and summer stress looming, it’s a great time to chat about managing stress.

What are some tips, tricks, methods, and resources you use to de-stress? How do you take care of your mental health and what have you found that works for you?  

Maycie, Public Support Services: Quiet time is so important! I recommend a dark quiet room for when you have sensory overload. Don’t overestimate what laying on the floor for a minute can do for your mental well-being. You have to remember to give your brain, your ears and your eyes all a break together during the day and just when you’re sleeping.

Also adopt a cat (or two) … they help a lot.

Maycie’s kitties, Barrett and Chopin

Kathy, Public Support Services: My biggest joy is actually reading so I end my day reading for about 30 minutes.  I let the book take me away from everything else and then I am ready to go to sleep.

Emily B., Public Support Services: Anxiety is always something I have struggled with, and while journaling is easy, it’s hard for me to be consistent. I found an app called How We Feel and I cannot recommend it enough! It helps you dissect your feelings and helps you get to the source of your problem. It also has several other techniques to help de-stress and manage negative thoughts. It’s entirely free too!

Shane, Public Support Services: As a college student, I often have overlapping deadlines and workloads with each class having its own structure. This semester was a unique challenge with two accelerated courses and two regular courses (and I will be doing the same thing for the summer semester).

To manage my stress, I plan out my time using a day planner (I use the Happy Planner weekly layout) and I color code each class. I write down my work schedule, due dates, appointments, social obligations, etc. and plan out when I will work on assignments. If I have a large assignment, I find breaking it up into little chunks much easier than trying to deal with the whole assignment. That way, “I have to write a 10 page paper by this date” becomes “I have to write the four paragraphs of my paper today.” Also, it always helps to plan a break day to let my mind rest and recover and enjoy myself so I can be more productive the next day. It’s important to enjoy yourself even when you’re busy!

Megan, Outreach Coordinator: How I de-stress is by putting in ear buds, playing some Kendrick Lamar and artists similar, and deep clean/organize my space. 

Alyssa, Adult and Teen Services Coordinator: When I’m stressed, either I need to move my body or I need to be a quiet, lazy blob . For movement, going for a walk, practicing yoga, or even just putting on some music and dancing around the house can really help. I often watch SarahBethYoga videos if I want to follow an instructor or a guided meditation. I do also love boxing or HIIT workouts like this one just to get all of that built-up cortisol and adrenaline out. And for peak blob-form, I’ll get in this shark onesie, turn on a comfort show, and turn off my phone!

Shelia, Interlibrary Loan and Cataloguing: My go-to for stress relief is usually being out in the sun and/or spending time with our various pets. My husband and I recently purchased bikes and getting out and riding always puts a smile on my face and makes me feel better.

Trinity, Page: When I’m stressed, I spend time with my dog. She’s a cuddlebug and I can’t say no to her puppy eyes! 

Hannah, Assistant Director: I wear an Oura ring to monitor my biometrics, and I’ve been using the Finch app for the last month to prioritize my mental health and my productivity. I’m a big fan of meditation as well. I’ve used almost all the apps…Headspace, Calm, Mindllama, and the Mindfulness app on my Apple Watch.

Dawn, Youth Services Coordinator: For de-stressing I tend to talk to friends and listen to music. Going to a movie or streaming something also helps me de-stress. I try to make lists so I don’t overwhelm myself both at home and work. It’s so gratifying to cross off things on a list once I get them accomplished. 

Now it’s your turn! What works for you when you’re dealing with stress? Let us know in the blog comments below!

Monica’s Musings: Maame

Maame by Jessica George

“Accept that your life is different now because of this monumental, irreversible change and that it’s okay to feel guilty one day and indescribable happiness another. This is life now. This is how you live.”
― Jessica George, Maame

Summary: Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.

It is fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced-stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare, and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mom returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. She finds a flatshare, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it is not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family.

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George’s Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism to the complexity of love. Most importantly, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures, and it celebrates finally finding where you belong.

My Thoughts: Maddie is a very naive 25-year-old navigating the world as she has just moved out. Throughout the book, she is asking Google how she should handle all of these situations coming up in her life, and it is pretty hilarious. The author did a fantastic job portraying Maddie’s emotions because it feels like you are experiencing this new world right along with her!

I was fully immersed and engaged in her life as she faced all her ups and downs. It is sad sometimes and sweet at others. The relationship between Maddie and her father is very moving and is written with empathy and love. You will want to yell at her mother and brother, whose selfish use of Maddie makes you so angry. 

This is a book that takes you on a journey. It includes some difficult topics such as; grief, microaggressions, and depression, but does so really well and with sensitivity. I love the ending, or better yet, I love the whole book!

Monica’s Musings: What Happened To You?

What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

“So I’m not crazy?” “No. Your brain is doing exactly what you would expect it to do considering what you lived through.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

Summary: Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”

Here, Winfrey shares stories from her past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age. In conversation throughout the book, she and Dr. Perry focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves. It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it allows us to understand our pasts to clear a path to our future—opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven powerful way.

My Thoughts: This book has something for everyone, and I highly recommend it! You absolutely should go with the audiobook for this one. Oprah narrates it along with Dr. Perry, and it is almost like listening to an in-depth podcast. There are scientific facts tied to real-life examples and experiences that keep you interested while also helping you better understand the concepts.

The discussions of the brain were well-done and easy for a layperson like me to understand. I appreciated the wide variety of stories Oprah and Perry shared that illustrate the impact trauma has on a person. Everyone has a reason as to why they are the way they are, and this is a good book to start digging deeper into that.