Sylvester Crystal talks to us about himself, his work and mental health and how they all intersect in this interview with Mofiyinfoluwa, in-house contributor at Safespace.
Today, “Sylvester Crystal”, talks to us, about himself, what he does and his mental health, and how they all intersect. He shares some insight on how it is like, working a 9 to 5, and how he balances that with life generally. For him, there’s no clear-cut difference between Life and work. Work is a part of his life, and currently, he isn’t exactly compartmentalising or putting work in a totally different space from life. He shares his opinions about life generally. His knowledge on the human mental health and its significance. How he manages his mental health, so that he makes the best use of his time and is productive at his 9 to 5.
I work as a UI designer and I do something called, “quality assurance/ testing”. I would assume that I understand the concept of mental health, at least basically. It roughly translates to “The health of your mind”. Yes, The health of your mind. I strongly believe that my mental health is optimal. It’s just like, when you’re sick in your body, you take care of your body. Because the body and mind, have to work “in flow”. And if one is doing less than the other, there’s bound to be an imbalance. And it is going to affect your output as a person.
I keep my mental health optimal, by surrounding myself with friends, and people that I can talk to. I try to create my own values and memorable experiences. I listen to music. I smoke weed. I try to honour my commitments, love my people. Help and be helped. I honestly just try to add meaning to my life, as much as I can, and that helps to distract me from the terrible things that are happening around. In truth, these things don’t make me ignorant of what is happening in my environment, it just keeps me focused on the right things.
I have been considering getting a therapist for a while now, but I heard that they’re quite expensive. However, I believe that there’s a lot of myself that I need to work on, before I move into another stage of my life. And it’s very important for me to fix them at this point, so that they don’t cause difficulties for me, later in life. Do you understand this? Basically, working on myself, in preparation for my future.
How do I cope with a less than optimal mental state? I withdraw into myself, I become a lot less sociable. I try to do some of my favourite things, and gradually, I charge my mental battery, to the point where I can expose myself to the world, once more.
So, sometimes I have existential crises. I think, “Why do you have to exist?” And I guess those are my “leave me, let me die” moments. And when those times come, I reassure myself that trouble doesn’t last. Days like this, are going to come, but they’ll go too. Before, I used to do impulsive things, to try and deal with situations like this, or talk to people that I necessarily would not talk to, but now, I stay calm, endure it and wait for it to pass. Because it always passes.
Currently, my life is stable. There are the good days and the bad, and I have just learned to accept that, as a balance. You cannot forever have good days, and you cannot forever have bad ones. So, I’d say life is okay. We’re chilling and we’re living.
Where I’m at work-wise, I was loaned to a government parastatal by my company. To help with “re-managing the shareholder expectations”. But I still do the testing for the platform we are making for the government parastatal. So, I go to the office, and I try to manage their expectations. Show them the platform, that I’m designing, take notes of what they like and do not. Although, trying to meet expectations is hard. It can be painful for me, when things go wrong, and I am held responsible for them. I try my best, and it’s difficult when it doesn’t reflect or it isn’t appreciated. And there are also days when I deal with imposter syndrome. And it takes quite a lot to get me out of that space. However, the hardest expectations to meet, are the ones that you have, of yourself. Someone said “When you have little to no expectations, you have the best experiences”. So, be wary of the expectations you have, of yourself. And even when you don’t meet them, don’t be too hard on yourself. Trying to meet these expectations is one of the hardest things in the world. You have yourself, for a lifetime, so try not to do irreparable damage, because you fail to meet a certain expectation. Word of advice, just know yourself and be nice to yourself.
Interview conducted by Mofiyinfoluwa , in-house contributor at safe space.
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