I am so incredibly happy to introduce you to Unrest, a collection of mental health cards to provide some encouragement and comfort to those going through their struggles.

As a victim of sexual violence, I’ve been carrying this pain for a while. For years, I spent many moments of my life in fear, pain and paranoia. I created an illusion that I was doing well. I’d always remind myself, the worst was already over. Unavoidably, his weaknesses became mine. His mistakes became mine. And his guilt became mine.

In 2020, I started Unrest to share the messy feelings that seem to cloud my mind at all hours and the space became a corner of comfort that I turned to whenever I hit a wall.

The truth was that while I kept myself busy at work and in life, my mind was wandering and staying up at all hours, Unrest was born out of desperation to connect, and in reality, a call for help. In the midst of struggles, self-doubt, and trauma, I leaned on these words and their comfort to carry me forward.

The same year, I started therapy. Admitting that I need help was hard, but being a regular at therapy was harder. It took months to overcome internal conflicts and resistance for me to start chipping away my own iceberg of fear and pain.

Months of hiatus later, I found a new way to continue Unrest.

Unrest will, inherently, always be a little sad and angry.

After all, sadness is a powerful tool to create, anger is a good tip to survive and injustice is injustice.

As I tried to sort out this mess of mine, many embraced me and were determined to help me get better. I learned how to break my silence and was given the choice to heal with others. In fact, this project exists because I once received a heartfelt card when I first shared my trauma and I still carry these words with me today.

Slowly but surely, Unrest became about love and connection.

Now that my walls are mostly gone, it is time to build something else, Alliance, and that’s what Unrest is about.

 By and large, we live in a world that celebrates survivors over victims. It's this hidden expectation that we need to climb our own mountains of struggle before celebrating together at the peak.

 I am sure it will take more than a few mental health greeting cards to change this narrative, but I figure that this is a good place to start.

After all, as we come out of this pandemic, I think the timing is perhaps wise, and so I hope to create something that is a bit more crude and honest after browsing the sympathy section of many stationery stores in Toronto.

 - Anney

To every one of us, every victim of sexual violence.

About Unrest