If mental health wasn’t top of mind before 2020, it certainly is now. As if life wasn’t stressful enough, the global pandemic changed life as we knew it. With the population in isolation, many were left to their own devices during a highly uncertain time. Anxiety and depression rates rose to unprecedented levels in the last year, and the collective trauma of the last year is taking its toll on everyone. 

That’s why the work of Poppy Jamie, founder of Happy Not Perfect, is more important than ever. The fashion/tech-wellness entrepreneur has long been an activist for mental health after her own experience with anxiety, insufficiency, and mounting social media pressures propelled her on the mental wellness discovery path. Endorsed by Kourtney Kardashian, Jameela Jamil, Mindy Kaling, and more, Jamie is sharing her knowledge with those in need of guidance, now more than ever.

In time for her debut book, we caught up with the activist.

How are you doing? 

I am good, thank you! Currently using the exercises from my book to manage my nerves before launch day 🙂

What inspired you to become an advocate for mental health? 

My own personal struggles and also inspiration from my mother who is a psychotherapist. I grew up learning about the mind, how it works, and what helps it work in a kinder way. When we leave our minds unattended, we can naturally fall into highly negative thought patterns that have the capability to develop into even more toxicity. I wanted to share the psychotherapeutic tools that changed my life so I built one of the first interactive mindfulness platforms in 2018 to ensure everyone and anyone could access help. I have now combined all my learnings in one book to ensure that everyone can know the same wisdom I’ve been luckily taught by so many world experts.

How have your views on mental health shifted in the past year? 

Not so much because for the past six years I’ve been trying to increase the awareness around mental health and finally this year, it feels like mental health has the platform it should have had years ago.

Given the events of the past year, we are all spending more time online. How do you balance spending time on social media with your own mental health? 

Great question. The online world can be an enemy to mental health in so many ways. For example, even though we KNOW social media isn’t real and it’s an advertising campaign for every brand and person on it, we are all still vulnerable to comparing ourselves and leaving social media feeling like we’re the only ones struggling or failing at life. The online world nurtures a very competitive environment and I do not think that is healthy for anyone, especially when life is challenging enough in the real world. Obviously social media and online has its strengths and can provide community and inspiration but I create strict boundaries for how I spend my time. I limit my exposure and also make a big effort to nourish my offline world more. Nothing beats real life connection, being within nature, moving outside and observing our environments, the ones we can touch, taste, see, and hear.

I know you are also a fashion entrepreneur, and co-founder of the label Pop & Suki! What inspired you to start the line, and do you see any connections between fashion & mental health? 

The fashion world is walking art and such an outlet for everyone to express their creativity. I think we don’t appreciate the relationship enough between fashion and mental health. When we dress for ourselves, love what we’re wearing because we feel it represents how we feel inside, it feels amazing!

Fashion allows us to explore our individuality and help us to communicate visually who we are and what we might be like.

When we dress for ourselves, fashion can be brilliant for our mental health. But, of course when we dress to “fit in” or feel pressure to abide by cultural expectations this can cause problems. Like with everything, what makes one person happy makes another unhappy but that’s the beauty in life – we are all different! For me and the reason for Pop & Suki, we wanted to create accessories that make women smile, feel confident and have fun!

What advice would you give to people that are struggling with their mental health? 

1. To express how they feel! When we keep our feelings locked up, they only intensify and studies prove that. When we share our thoughts with a trusted friend, a professional or even just journal our feelings, the emotional part of the brain begins to calm down as the computer side becomes activated. Science has proven that a problem shared, is truly a problem halved!

2. Pause. The world tells us to get busier when actually, taking time to slow down and address our feelings is the best use of your time when you are struggling. Our emotions are just a little wisdom nuggets waiting to be unwrapped. Ask yourself questions like, where in the body am I feeling this discomfort? What is this feeling trying to tell me?

3. Move your body. I always say it’s practically impossible to think your way out of a problem, easier to move your way! Whenever you are stuck in a thought loop or feeling low, go for a brisk walk, dance for five minutes or just change your posture. As Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Change your body as that will change your energy and that will help upgrade your thinking.

Congrats on the launch of your debut book! Happy Not Perfect’. What can readers expect? 

The book is the most honest and vulnerable piece of work I’ve ever done. I wanted to show readers how our internal worlds can be a far cry from anything we are projecting.  Hopefully, the story shows people that they aren’t alone if they feel similarly and also illustrates how we never can tell how someone is truly feeling from looking at their Instagram or by counting external “achievements”.

The book is about learning to have a flexible mindset! Thinking with flexibility is about staying connected to how we feel and remaining curious even when we want to react, falling into toxic thought patterns like shame, blame, guilt, anxiety, and self-flagellation. It is so easy to remain stuck thinking we are not enough, that we don’t deserve love or that the future is a scary place but when you learn to be flexible, you will see, our entire outlook can change. When we live life by design, our futures can be filled with dreams that make us feel good from the inside, not just superficially.

In summary, readers can expect to be taken on a journey from low self-esteem, workaholism, and perfectionism towards love, optimism, and flexibility and be taught all the steps to get there.

Order ‘Happy not Perfect’ now here.