26/10/2026
🌱 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑫𝑨𝒀𝑺, 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑶𝑮𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹. 💙✨
Once again, 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑷𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 was invited to take part in 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦: 𝗔 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗻, an initiative organized with 𝑆𝑀 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠, 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑢𝑏, 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑀.𝐴.𝐷., 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, in celebration of World Mental Health Month.
Held last 𝙊𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝟮𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙊𝘼 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡, the gathering brought young people together for meaningful conversations, activities, and reminders about mental health, kindness, growth, and the importance of checking in on one another.
One message stood out throughout the day: 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 💙
“Use your time wisely. Piliin mong maging mabuti, hindi lang sa sarili mo pero sa ibang tao, dahil hindi mo alam ang pinagdadaanan nila.” - 𝙈𝙨. 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙞 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙤
Ms. Dani also reminded everyone that while we may experience a few bad chapters, those chapters are not the entire book. We can choose to hold our own power, spread kindness, and simply ask the people we love, “𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐤𝐚?” Sometimes, a simple question can make a powerful difference.
𝙈𝙨. 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙑𝙚𝙡𝙖 shared another beautiful reminder: we cannot expect our lives to look the same as somebody else’s because we all grow in different spaces.
As Ms. Janina beautifully illustrated, the grass may seem greener on someone else’s side, but maybe what is growing in our own field was never meant to be grass. It could be flowers, coconut trees, or something entirely our own. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 🌷🌴
And sometimes, the simplest message carries the greatest weight:
“𝑨 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.” - 𝙆𝙪𝙮𝙖 𝙆𝙞𝙢 𝘼𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙯𝙖 💫
May we continue choosing kindness, checking in on one another, respecting our own pace, and remembering that one difficult chapter is never the whole story.
Here’s to creating 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑫𝑨𝒀𝑺, one kind act and one meaningful conversation at a time. 🌱💙🤍
📸 A heartfelt thank you to 𝙎𝙖𝙢 𝙑𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙮𝙖 and 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙍𝙤𝙙𝙖 for capturing the moments that made BETTER DAYS memorable. 💙✨
