Canadian beauty blogger Yasaman Gheidi is using her makeup skills to spread mental health awareness with her new #InsideOutChallenge. While makeup can be fun and glamorous, Gheidi shows us a different side by using products to transform her face into a mirror for what's within.
The project came about after the 27-year-old self-taught beauty blogger left her staff Christmas party early due to an anxiety attack. After debating how to excuse her hasty retreat in case co-workers inquired, it dawned on Gheidi that shame around mental illness must be combatted.
“So many wonderful and amazing people suffer from the same mental illnesses that I do on a daily basis. Why can't we just talk about it openly,” Gheidi asks. “This experience along with many others inspired my ‘Inside Out Challenge.' Mental illness shouldn't have to be hidden away, let's start to talk about it.”
Rather than suffering in silence, Gheidi challenges people struggling with their mental health to use their creativity, proudly showing their internal feelings. A sort of catharsis, only by removing stigmas can we continue raising mental health awareness.
Gheidi, who goes by lilmoonchildd on Instagram, has struck a chord. The #InsideOutChallenge is encouraging others to paint their faces with pride, come out from the shadows, and share their stories about mental illness in order to push understanding forward.
Beauty bloggers are taking up the #InsideOutChallenge to raise mental health awareness.
“This is my visual interpretation of depression: it's like a deep dark spiral in my head. The thing with depression is that people think we're lazy, that we just want to stay in bed all day and feel sorry for ourselves. They think that if we wanted to we could just get up and suddenly feel better. When you're depressed it feels like there are extremely heavy weights attached to every part of your body, so seemingly effortless everyday tasks feel incredibly strenuous. ” Image via Yasaman Gheidi.
“I inherited depression and anxiety disorders from my mom, who inspires me constantly to keep moving forward. I know there will always be road blocks, but I'm actually really happy by how much understanding there is on social media now about anxiety/depression. It doesn't have to be a dark mystery!” (Image via Britt Gorman)
“You expect people to expect you to just keep quiet about your illness and keep it to yourself like it's some sort of taboo, and if you did speak up about it, you'll probably be labeled as ‘overreacting', ‘drama queen' and think that you would lose the people you love. So you sew your mouth shut out of fear. But what you don't realize is that the more you keep it to yourself, the more it destroys who you are, inside and outside as well.” (Image via Hammada Bamadhaj-Khan)
“This is my most meaningful art so far, I took on the #insideoutchallenge and decided to wear my mental illness to raise awareness, I hope you all like it. This is for everyone with #borderlinepersonalitydisorder. ” (Image via Kayla Thomas)
“Depression for me feels as if my mind is clouded with storm clouds and I'm drowning in my thoughts. Finding the beauty in everything and my family is what helps me to not allow depression or anxiety to take hold over my life. Love yourself and love those you have around you. Be open to the possibilities in life.” (Image via siren_gypsy)
The beauty blogger also features an #InsideOutChallenge tutorial on YouTube.
Yasaman Gheidi: Instagram | YouTube
h/t: [hellogiggles]
