The Mental Well Community Connections: Josh Anderson

In 3-5 sentences, tell us a little about you and your background. What is your name, where did you grow up, where are you now, any hobbies or other things about you that you’d like to share?

My name is Josh Anderson. I grew up on the eastern shore of Maryland but currently live in Philadelphia, PA. I am a pro audio/visual engineer, and former working musician who now writes and plays for fun and soul, not a paycheck (I’ll get to that later). My life, besides being fully engulfed in music, is centered around current events, social justice, and aspiring to take my musical passion into the field of journalism soon. I proactively started my mental health journey around 2016, but have been dealing with mental illness since childhood. My hope to balance my passions before they become mental progress inhibitors has been the most intense part of the past few years. It feels fantastic to have an outlet to share thoughts and experiences. (Thanks Brittni!)

Do you prefer the mountains or beach? Why? 

Mountains. I had enough of the beach crowds to last infinite lifetimes.

What is a really good book you’ve read or movie you’ve seen recently? 

A film adaptation of a book: Nightmare Alley. Bradley Cooper plays a murder turned grifter hiding his past, through mystifying audiences in the early nineteen hundreds. I was captivated by how relevant the themes were to my own entertainment industry experiences, and can not wait to read the book.

Who do you look up to in your life and, if they were to read this, is there anything you would like to tell them? 

Despite many differences, I look up to my mother. She has seen indescribable adversity, violence, and pain, yet her joy is insurmountable. I am not a man of faith, but hers keeps my faith in myself, and social healing, stronger than ever. A large portion of my mental health journey of healing involves expressing these things to her.

What is it about “mental health” that you are passionate about? Why? Any experience you’d like to share that brought this passion out?  

The machine does not operate correctly if the programming is broken. Just like music or equipment, if the parts aren’t in rhythm, if your mind and soul are not in sync, progress will never see its day. My life stayed quite stagnate in my easy-going beach town because I accepted it as my fate. After having my first extreme mental breakdown, and healing the parts I was accountable for, I realized I didn’t need to settle for “this is just how it is”. Being broken is no one's fate unless they allow it to be. I believe I can share my experiences to help people over that first mental hurdle, before they spend 30 years believing there’s no way they have the ability, or deserve, to leap over.

What's a difficult situation you survived/came through/found resilience in? What did the experience teach you about yourself? 

CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDAL THOUGHTS

At the height of my performing career, I had a mental breakdown over a horrific breakup, almost drank myself to death in a matter of hours, and became suicidal. While dealing with this experience all alone, stranded in New York City. It became deathly clear that I had past trauma I refused to be accountable for, and despite others' input on my state, I had failed myself by not taking the steps to heal. This experience taught me that my ego had become the ruler of my life, and no longer my soul. It made me aware that I am, breakable, brittle, without mental armor. It’s a constant work in progress, but this experience was my “first step into a larger world” of accepting my faults while fortifying my strengths.

If you could tell your younger self something, what would it be and why? 

You’re going to achieve more than you could have imagined, but you are going to prevent yourself from even greater things if you don’t heal.

What is one of your favorite quotes and why? 

“Do, or do not. There is no try”.

A puppet in 1982 has and always will have the greatest advice to me personally. Yes, we may fail, but when we “do” with intention, even failure is a positive outcome.

Do you have any aspirations for yourself over the next year or two and how do you plan to reach those goals? 

Find a way to not engineer clubs, and get my circadian rhythm back. My industry does not adhere to be best mental health habits. I aspire to build my mental stability, brand, and knowledge in any way I reasonably can to not only give myself confidence I can do these things but remind myself I deserve them. I work way too hard not to.

Mental health priorities evolve with age and experience, what are one or two important pillars that make up the foundation of who you are today? 

Sleep. Medication. Without the ample balance of these, I am unable to excel past my expectations. A younger me would demean myself for needing these things. That younger me lacked wisdom; I am human, not a superhero.

How do you manage your mental health? 

I manage mental health by honestly talking to myself every day; sometimes out loud when I am by myself. Affording therapy has been difficult since the pandemic wrecked my career, so mindfulness, REM, medication, and pursuing what makes me truly happy are the cornerstones to keeping me on this planet.

In terms of “self-care” what do you do that a reader may be able to easily adopt into their life? 

Start to read more. I don’t mean books. Anything. Any moment you have a free moment to spare, inform yourself. Flex your brain muscles. Find puzzle games. Build LEGO. Anything that constructs a synapse where depression wants to live, do it.

It’s important to be supported, but how do you offer support to the people in your life? 

Tell them they’re great. Anytime I hear someone audibly promote negativity or doubt in themselves, I do my best to help diffuse their negativity. Life is really difficult for everyone in the general sphere of society. Kindness, and stupid levels of positive support, are what will help everyone through these times. Empathy, to me, is how we experience God.

Anything else you’d like to tell our readers? 

Don’t give up. Cry. Yell. Scream to the top of your lungs. Tell someone you need a hug, even if it’s yourself. And then give yourself that hug if you must. Unapologetically be yourself and remove anyone from your sphere that does not love you for who you are.