NickVenturella.com 5-18-18 - You are worth the effort!

You are worth the effort!

May 18, 2018

May is Mental Health Awareness month.This is important to me because me, my immediate and extended families have histories of mental health struggles.As a result, I want to share at least something that has helped my own journey toward staying sane and motivated to accomplish anything in life.  Maybe you can relate or have a similar story. If so, feel free to hit reply and share it – you never have to be alone in your struggles.Creative output has become a survival mechanism for me. When I was at an emotional low point and clinically depressed in eighth grade visual art and music became a positive and constructive method of expressing those emotions. I would go so far as to say having such an outlet saved my life at that point in time.Fast forward to early years of college, dealing with heavy relationship emotions, death of a grandparent, self-medication with alcohol and simply trying to discover who you are as an individual now that you’re on your own is enough to make one depressed, and for a while there I was.But I journaled, created visual art and wrote songs, and I started to perform those songs for others at open mic nights and my own shows, and something happened…I got my emotions out through my art. Essentially, I turned something negative into something positive.What was really rewarding was to have audience members talk to me after shows and identify how a particular song resonated with them; how they completely related to what I was singing about, and as a result it helped them feel better.In that moment, I knew that not only had I created a positive process to deal with my own emotions by creating and performing my art, but I had created a bridge to connect with others who might feel similarly, and that meant I was being heard, understood and that I was no longer alone.And for those whom my songs resonated, they too felt like someone understood them and they too, in that brief moment, no longer felt alone.College was another time music saved my life, and it became an even more prominent staple into my own health regimine like, eating right or exercising.Now, as a husband and father, there are new life challenges being discovered everyday, but so far this year, I’ve really recommitted myself to writing, practicing and performing music as a necessity for my own menal health and so far it’s working. Music continues to save my life and thus helps me be the positive and loving husband, father, brother, son, coworker, friend I know I can be.

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Join me this weekend (Saturday May 19th). I'll be performing from 11am until 1pm at Mama D's Coffeehouse in Wales, WI. If you're in the Wales/Hartland/Oconomowoc/Pewaukee/Waukesha areas, come on out to the show. 

Sincerely,Nick VenturellaNickVenturella.com