Nicholas Patrick is the Founder of Ekho Academy, a media platform dedicated to helping you enhance the quality of your career. After overcoming a decade long battle with clinical depression, Nic’s mission is to help working professionals stay mentally healthy and strong. Nic is most active on LinkedIn and Instagram, where you can find him using his full name Nicholas Patrick.
“If you don’t have to rush it, don’t rush it.”
Nicholas Patrick
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Coping with mental health issues
Nic’s symptoms started around 2007/8. His mood started being affected, and he could no longer cope with the everyday stresses and challenges of life. He, however, chose to ignore these symptoms. He thought it was one of those things that eventually would go away on its own. Nic decided to do nothing and wait it out. Unfortunately, things got really bad to the point where sometimes he couldn’t get out of bed and missed so many days of school.
Divine Intervention
Things got so bad that Nic thought about suicide. He was standing on the ledge, ready to take his own life when his phone vibrated. He paused to check his phone when he saw an email from a university. The subject of that email was Ways of Managing Depression. This email knocked him out of his trance and helped him understand that he wasn’t trying to deal with his mental issues. He realized that his worst investment was not taking care of his mental health.
He took his power back, and from then on, he committed to get well. Which he did, and went on to form his academy with the vision to help other people going through a similar situation.
Lessons learned
Be patient with yourself
Patience is a really easy concept, but something that people constantly forget and don’t pay attention to. Sometimes you might have to go slow and achieve your goals later than you planned. That’s ok; be patient with yourself. You will get there no need to put pressure on yourself.
Build your support system
When building your support system, there are three categories that people fall into:
- the outermost circle, people who don’t care,
- the middle circle, people who care about you but don’t know how to help you,
- the innermost circle, people who care and know how to help you.
Categorize your support system accordingly to receive the most appropriate mental health solution.
Mental health recovery is not time-bound
When you’re recovering from anything, including mental health issues, don’t work with a clock. Instead, have milestones and work through them one by one and take as much time as it takes. So don’t say you’re going to give yourself five years to overcome depression.
Andrew’s takeaways
Don’t be afraid to miss out on life your recovery matters more
Don’t refuse to work through your problems for fear of missing out on life while you’re doing it. Take the time to take care of yourself; life will be better when you get back.
Don’t compare yourself to others
Take a good look at your weaknesses, your pains, and the ways you’ve been hurt. You’re the only one who can see those things clearly. Be brave to bring these things out as a first step to dealing with them. Don’t let other people’s seemingly perfect lives cause you to hide your problems and allow them to keep harming you.
Actionable advice
Learn about yourself, feed your mind and your body. But, don’t focus just on the information out there because it’s easy to get lost in it. Instead, seek professional mental health services, whether it’s from a therapist or licensed psychiatrist. Because their main function is not to prescribe solutions but to work with you to get to your ideal way of recovery.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Nic’s goal for the next 12 months is to make Ekho Academy a place that enhances everyone’s quality of career by addressing all the topics that people have about their careers. Issues they find challenging, the stress in their workplaces, and dealing with difficult relationships in the workplace. These are important topics because these are the small micro issues that can affect your total mental well being.
Parting words
“It’s ok to get help because we don’t have all the solutions. So don’t be afraid to ask.”
Nicholas Patrick
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