One of our favourite social media accounts to follow is Virginie Cadieux Chevrier’s Instagram profile dedicated to normalising mental health and embracing challenging emotions. We sat down to discuss her approach to the topic of mental health, and find out what inspires her open and honest style online.

In this the second of a two part interview, she shares her thoughts on her Instagram presence, experiences managing mental health whilst travelling, and some great advice for anyone struggling with a mental health challenge. If you missed part one of our interview you can check it out on the Burnout Lab.

Let's jump into your Instagram page, you share some really powerful, honest messages on there - what made you start approaching mental health in this way? 

When I first started talking about mental health on my Instagram account, I was in Indonesia two and a  half years ago whilst on a long backpacking trip. At the start I was trying to put nice pictures of myself, but after a while I realised it was really counterproductive actually because what I wanted to do was post the real truth, sharing a real experience of a real human being with a real disorder. I also believe that just by being yourself and like sharing your truth, you inspire others. 

When I started posting about mental health, so many people reached out to me, both strangers and also friends who were feeling in similar ways to me and they actually didn't know it was a problem. They were like, “Oh, I feel the same, I need to do something. Can you give me some tips?”. So I realized that actually everybody benefited from it, not just myself, because of course Instagram posting is a selfish move; I’m sharing a picture of myself at the end of the day. So now my approach is, when I feel uncomfortable posting something, I know I have to share it. 

That’s probably a good way of censoring yourself! When you’re posting do you plan what you’re going to say at all, or is it more spontaneous? 

It depends. Sometimes I do it on the spot, like something will happen during my day and I have a picture that fits with it and I share it immediately, but sometimes it takes me weeks to think about something before I actually post about it. But yeah, I don’t really have any rules as such, I just try to be the most honest as possible, even if it makes me uncomfortable. I don’t always wear makeup anymore when I take photos of myself, because I want it to be as raw as possible. If I’m not being honest in what I post I’m just lying to myself and not healing myself, and just playing the social media game. 

You mentioned you were travelling when you started posting on IG, how did you find your backpacking experiences influenced your mental health? 

I’ve been on three solo backpacking trips in the last five years. On the first one, I went to South America for four months and it was great in terms of my mental health because I met great friends and was always with like minded people. But the last one I did at the beginning of 2018 was just six months after I got diagnosed, and I was in a really, really, really bad place. I had just broken up with my ex, had started on medication and had a ton of side effects. I felt that by getting out of Canada I could get away from it all, so I went to Australia - literally as far away as I could get! But to be honest the trip was awful, I felt alone the entire time and completely out of place. I wasn’t able to be around people so I isolated myself a lot. I was so sad and depressed that I wasn’t even able to cry, and I used to be a big crier. I was planning to live there for 2 years and came back after two months 

It made me realise  that almost everything I want to do makes me feel bad or anxious. So if I have to stop myself doing those things, because I'm afraid or I feel unwell, I'm never going to do anything. And I feel that by true suffering, you grow. So I think that traveling, even if it's hard, that trip helped me a lot. I suffered every day, but I came back really changed. I would do it again, I don't regret it.

That’s interesting that you’ve had two distinctly different travel experiences...

We have so much expectation around travel created by social media and YouTube etc. They make you feel like travelling is going to be so amazing, but really that’s not the reality all the time. You can’t be ecstatic 24/7 just because you’re abroad. You’re still the same person when you’re on the road. Some days you are gonna have days when you feel low, you’re gonna get hungry and tired and feel lonely - all the things that happen when you’re at home. You don’t just become a different person in a different country.

I wanted to touch on routine, because its such an important way for many when discussing wellbeing. What particular steps do you regularly take to manage your mental and physical health?

My approach is pretty basic, just simple things that everyone needs to do if they want to live a healthy life. I stopped drinking, alcohol and drugs are the worst things you can do for your general health. I try to maintain a sleep routine - I wake up early and go to bed at 10:30 every day. I will go on long walks every day, particularly if I don’t get to fit in a specific exercise like running, because sometimes I can be very lazy! I practice yoga, and if I don’t manage a full session I stretch for 10 minutes to activate my body before I go to work in the morning. 

I eat a lot and regularly, I hate diet culture and counting calories. It’s awful for your mental and physical health, so I don’t do that anymore. I eat when I need to eat - being hungry is literally your body telling you it needs fuel!

Any therapy? 

Yeah, I do a lot of therapy. I think therapy is the best thing you can offer to yourself. Even if you don't have any mental issues. Everybody has drama, everybody has issues, everyone’s a little fucked up - it’s normal. We are all affected by mental health and deep down we all want to talk about it and heal ourselves - and that’s good. Therapy is one hour that you get to talk about yourself completely - what’s not to love!

Last question! What advice would you give to anyone struggling with a mental health problem?

To get support, and not just therapy, but to talk about it with your friends, your family, your partner etc. That's something I've been really doing for the past few years, really being true to myself, identifying how I feel, and where I need support. You aren’t being selfish - as long as it's communicated respectfully in a mature way. It’s much better than not telling anyone, feeling bad alone and potentially damaging the relationships with those closest you. So yeah, getting the support that you need, and expressing clearly those needs is the best thing you can offer yourself and to others who love you and want to support you. 

Virginie Cadieux Chevrier is a mental health advocate, Instagrammer and keen traveller based in Montreal, Canada. By sharing her own experiences with mental health she aims to inspire others to embrace their own emotional wellbeing, whilst normalising public stigma surrounding the topic.

@littleblondebipolar