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From prom to the psych ward: Meet bipolar blogger Hannah D. Blum

Imagine you’re 17-years-old, getting ready for prom season. You know that you have prom queen in the bag, but can’t even pull up to get your crown because you’re experiencing a mental breakdown.

Head up princess, because this was the real-life of Hannah Blum, a bipolar blogger and mental health advocate based in Los Angeles, California.

In 2019 she published her first book, The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self Love, a book about more than just surviving with a mental illness. It’s a not so typical story by a not so typical person and in it, Hannah bears all of her struggles. 

 

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Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 20, Hannah was involuntarily admitted into a mental health hospital two years after graduating high school.

She went to her normal doctor for a check-up because she felt unwell mentally, where she was sedated and woke up in handcuffs as a ward of the state.

Cheers to gap years, what’d you do after graduation? 


She says her motivation is knowing that people face the same issues as her. Whether it be depression or heartbreak, she wanted to speak up for those struggling in life and let them know it was okay for them to speak up as well. 

On all of Hannah’s platforms she emphasizes how she went from prom queen to a mental patient in the blink of an eye, during her interview with Kulture Hub we asked her to tell us a little more about that:

“In high school, I was what you see in movies as your typical popular girl. I was the athlete that had it all together. I almost won the best smile in school and it was the most depressed I had ever been in my life. On the night of prom when I was nominated, I didn’t even make it because I had a breakdown.”

She uses her social platforms to spread her messages quicker and as a safe place for her audience to not be okay. 

bipolar mental health
@hannahdblum

As well as being an established author, Hannah also advocates for mental health through her blog, Halfway2Hannah. The blog has had some success and was awarded Top 10 bipolar blogs by Feedspot in 2019.

In her blog posts, she mentions a lot of topics around self-love, and when asked what those words meant to her she responded:

“Self-love is loving yourself, which is the hardest thing to do with a mental illness. I saw the damage done when self-love wasn’t present.”

In her blog, Hannah offers a range of content for her viewers, from resources for avid readers living with a mental illness to suicide prevention lines and fire blog posts about her own personal experiences. 

She speaks on how to live with a mental illness in her blog posts, If You Live With A Mental Illness These Resources Are For You. As well as inspiring others to voice their stories with her useful post, Tips for Starting and Creating Content for a Mental Health Blog.

Hannah is raw and gritty in the most elegant way. It’s beautiful how she allows herself to be exposed to the world. Quoted straight from her book, she wrote:

“It’s okay not to be okay. Know that you are not alone. Know that even in the dark, I can still see your light.”

 

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Such simple language that holds so much weight, Hannah is a force to be reckoned with in the field of mental health. 

When asked about her inspiration to write a book she revealed that she always wanted to and that when she started sharing her writing through social media she saw a need for the content she provides. 

At the end of her interview, Hannah offered a little advice towards creatives struggling with mental illness. She spoke about what she believes what might be holding them back:

“The only thing holding you back is the thought that your mental illness is holding you back. Put a little out there every day, don’t be afraid to dip your toes in the water.”

 

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In a time where mental health is quickly becoming more and more acknowledged and talked about, Hannah has sure dipped more than just her toes in the water.

Thus far, she has shared more than she ever needed to and helped more than she believed she ever could.

Hannah is living proof that mental illness is not a weakness, it is simply an imperfection. Make sure to stay in tune with her blog posts, everyone can use a little oomph every once in a while.