Authority Magazine Interview: Self-Care

Let’s face it. It seems that everyone is under a great deal of stress these days, which takes a toll on our mental wellness. What are some of the best self-care practices we can use to help improve our mental wellness and mental well-being? In this interview series, How Each of Us Can Use Self-Care to Improve Our Mental Wellness, we are talking to medical doctors, mental health professionals, health and wellness professionals, and experts on self-care and mental health who are sharing insights from their experience. As part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Tracy McHugh.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal story? What has brought you to this point in your life?

I grew up in a tiny town in Northern New Jersey. I think a lot about nature versus nurture. If I grew up in a more mellow region, if I had different circumstances, etc., would I be a different person and temperament. I don’t know if I will ever know that answer for sure and even if I did, you can’t change the past, only the future.

As a little kid my world didn’t change much. No younger siblings, cousins, nieces, or nephews. My parents are still happily married 49 years later. I lived in the same house from the time I was 2 years old and went to the same public school in town with the same kids, until I was 18. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and to people reading this who had a rocky or unstable childhood, I am sure they are scoffing right about now. What I did noticed about myself in my early years is because of this lack of change, any little change rocked my world, and I couldn’t handle it. If my favorite teacher left, I cried. The end of the school year or the end of summer break transition, I cried. For a period of time, I just became that kid who cried a lot until I worked so hard to become that teen and young adult that didn’t cry at all, especially in front of anyone. Living by the motto that if I had feelings — I kept them to myself. So, I did. If I didn’t like something, I dealt with it. If I was sad about something, I didn’t talk about it. If I had an opinion on something, I shared it with virtually no one. Mostly, I became the person that wanted to make up my mind before anyone made up my mind for me and I didn’t want to burden people with constant venting.

Then came the global pandemic. Each person’s situation was difficult in their own right. My situation was I was living alone, with no family within 3000 miles, and I was supposed to not come in contact with anyone. Most of us had never experienced this before and I had no idea how I would handle it. I had no idea if I would be cool about it or lose my ish, so I became proactive about what I could control, which was my time, physical and mental well-being. I am also the unlucky one in my family who has a super shotty metabolism and can gain weight at a drop of a hat, so I knew being isolated in my 950 square foot apartment with nothing to do and no exercise equipment was likely to end with me gaining a substantial amount of weight. From many previous weight gains and losses over the years, I knew this would mess with me physically but also mentally and I had no idea how this whole scenario was going to unfold. So, this was the moment I re-evaluated my life and how I handled things.

What is your “WHY” behind what you do? What fuels you?

This is going to sound very cliché and I am okay with that, but my ‘why’ is usually a gut feeling. Someone once said to me, ‘you’re usually right, and I have no idea how.’ To be honest, neither do I. I usually rule my life by a feeling. Even though above I mentioned I usually try to avoid feelings, these were more gut feelings than emotional ones. If I had the feeling I needed a change of scenery, or a feeling it was time to look for a new job, or a feeling I needed to step out of a certain scenario; I more times than not will act on that pretty immediately. Also, I have the thought that, nothing is forever so if I don’t like something or it’s not working, I can just leave and that’s a pretty good position to be in.

For the remainder of the second conversation with Tracy and Authority Magazine, check out the rest of the interview.