OCD Awareness- Tegan’s Story 🩷💙
Hey guys, I’m Tegan the studio manager, teacher and tots&tinies coordinator at M-Pulsive and I wanted to take a moment this OCD Awareness Week to share something a little bit personal, and something I haven’t always been sure is the right thing to share. However, I think it’s really important that we continue to raise awareness and understanding around mental health.
I live with OCD myself, and it’s something that I’m still learning to understand and navigate- daily. It’s an ongoing process, and I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that OCD is just about being clean, organised or liking things a certain way. (Don’t get me wrong this can play a part but there’s so much more to the condition)
In reality, it can be so much more complex than that. For me, it can look like needing constant, excessive reassurance, holding myself to unrealistic standards, overthinking and ruminating over negative things, or feeling the need to check things repeatedly. It can be mentally exhausting, and it’s not always something that other people can see or understand from the outside. It definitely makes certain tasks and communications in daily life difficult, and I just try to work with it the best I can.
I’m sharing this because I think awareness is about more than just knowing what OCD (or any mental health condition) stands for. It’s about understanding that people can be dealing with things internally that you might never know
about, and that a little bit of compassion can go a long way.
And this is something that feels particularly important to me when I think about our dance school.
As some of you may know actually grew up in M-Pulsive as a dancer before going on to work here, so I know first-hand how much being a part of this environment can mean. Dance has always been about so much more than learning steps or getting things right. It’s been about building confidence, finding friendships, having a positive outlet and being part of something where you feel comfortable and like you belong.
That’s something I really want us as a team to continue to nurture in every single student who walks through our doors. I want our school to be a place where children feel encouraged rather than pressured, included rather than judged, and proud of themselves for who they are, not just for what they achieve.
We might not always know what someone is going through outside of the studio, but we can make sure that the time they spend with us inside the studio is filled with positivity, encouragement and experiences that help them feel good about themselves.
For me, promoting positive wellbeing and a healthy mindset is just as important as the dancing itself.
So, this OCD Awareness Week, I hope we can all keep learning, keep talking and keep showing a little more understanding towards ourselves and each other. As well as teaching our young ones to do the sameđź©·đź’™
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