Help Holly raise money

Hi everyone! I am so happy to be running the Falmouth Road Race with Mental Health Collaborative this summer. This event showcases two of my biggest passions: mental and physical health. The correlation between the two has always been so fascinating to me and I cannot wait to learn more about it through my own experiences in training. Since a very young age I have struggled with my mental health, as many of us do. My biggest issue has been OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The first thing that comes to mind for most people when they think of OCD is cleanliness. If you’ve ever seen my room, you would know that does not apply to me. Although OCD is hard to pin down to one universal definition, I have quite a few words that resonate with me. Anger. Being so mad at myself for falling back into the cycle and not being able to break it. Anger at the people around me for not understanding - teachers and friends and their assumptions on an issue that has never affected them. Then there’s confusion. Why do I think the things that I do, and why do I have to act on them? Worst of all, there’s fear. In the moment, the fear is completely inescapable. I feel disconnected, as though I am watching myself - a spectator of my own life. I have been affected by OCD for approximately ten years and have had a therapist for eight. It has been quite a long process, but perseverance and hope have helped to push me through the darkness and to the other side. I chose MHC to run with because I want to end the stigma around mental health and break the barrier between internal and outwardly physical health - they are not as different as you may think. The goals of MHC are incredibly inspirational and give me hope for the future of the world we live in. I hope you will consider supporting my run for MHC and that the ups and downs of my mental health will prepare me for the ups and downs of this course.