Look around you. According to Newsweek, “One out of five people struggles with mental illness.” More often than not the struggle is internal; other people cannot see the battle, much less understand it.
People say, “Try to take deep breaths,” and things like, “You will be fine, everything always works out,” without fully understanding what it feels like to walk in your shoes everyday. In order to shut down and address stigmas about mental illness, 27-year-old makeup blogger Yasman Gheidi began a movement on social media encouraging people who live with hidden mental illnesses, such as ADHD, anxiety, depression and many many more, to show people exactly what they cannot see.
Gheidi challenged both men and women to depict what their mental illness looks like to them on their face with makeup, and then to post it on social media with the tag #InsideOutChallenge. The challenge has proven to create a safe and creative space for people to talk about what their own life with mental illness looks and feels like.
Over 800 posts have been made on Instagram, and the images are nothing short of raw and beautiful.