On August 16, Lzzy Hale started the #RaiseYourHorns movement. In light of Jill Janus' death, which Hale posted a touching message on Instagram about, she believes we need to be more aware of people's mental health issues. We can use that awareness to support them.
So, she took to Instagram and asked people to take a picture and raise their horns, saying, "The more people that are brave enough to put it out there, the more we will all see that we are not alone in our battles, in fact, we are the majority! Let's get one step closer to breaking the mental health stigma!"
Lzzy Hale on Instagram (officiallzzyhale)@officiallzzyhale / Instagram
I love the entire idea of this movement. I have always felt that mental health is often swept under the rug. There are people out there who use mental illnesses as adjectives, rather than actually being diagnosed with a disorder. I believe it's not hard to feel alone. I've felt alone before, worried that no one understood what I was going through.
It's important to talk about mental health — not only to remind others out there that they aren't alone, but to get other people talking about it.
We need to help others recognize the signs and encourage their friends and families to get help. We need to assure them that it's OK to ask for help. Asking for help doesn't make you weak or mean that you're broken in any way.
We need to spend more time helping and supporting each other, rather than bringing each other down. We're all in this together. We're all living our lives. As Lzzy put it in her post for Jill Janus, "We have a responsibility to help each other, 'cause everything we say, do and touch, affects the whole race. We are all connected."
Continuing her movement and her belief that we all need to be a little more supportive, Hale tweeted: "I believe we have a choice. We have a choice to either make someone's world or break it, to lift someone up, or push them in the dirt, to be negative or positive. I wonder what would happen if everyone woke up this morning with a mission to make a stranger's day. #raiseyourhorns"
I couldn't agree more with this statement. It fits into the whole random-act-of-kindness movement in the sense that it doesn't take much to make someone's day. Just a little kindness can go a long way.
In her post to Jill Janus, Hale talks about finding a lifeline. Your lifeline should be something that makes you happy, something to help you hold on. Hers is writing and music, mine is my writing and yours can be whatever you wish. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else but you.
If you haven't quite found your lifeline yet, that's OK. Just keep searching, and I believe you will find it.
Revolvermag.com did a piece with Lzzy where she gave them 10 songs that she said helped her through some tough times. I recommend checking out the article and giving the songs a listen.
I think everyone should have a playlist of songs that helps them. I know when I'm feeling down, it's nice to listen to music. It drowns out the rest of the world for a while.
Overall, I believe this movement has a powerful message — one that we could all learn from and join. So, I encourage you to #raiseyourhorns in support of mental health awareness.
