The "Azaleas" Part 4

#17 Khalil

As part 16 of the #AzaleaCampgian, it's my pleasure to introduce Khalil! (The photo bellow was submitted by Khalil and I take no credit in taking it)

Khalil would describe himself as " a creative and beautiful soul." His interests include singing, illustration, playing video games, card games, cartoons, music, and a key interest in fashion. Khalil would describe mental health as "a major part of what influences people’s behaviors and should be prioritized and ideally well balanced to get to a better understanding of yourself as well as possibly living an overall better quality of life. It means taking care of yourself as best as possible. For example, if you were given a diagnosis for a disorder, it's asking what this means for me and what I can do to improve myself just by knowing what I’m even dealing with. An example I often go to ties to my my experience growing up as a young black man, and a lot of what that meant where I grew up, and my progressive understanding of the issues with that as I grew older.

For instance, Men are often forced to be the visage of strength and that is inevitably tied to our perceived worth as men. No crying, no time to talk about emotional issues, no allowance of real vulnerability at times. How this ties into mental health in one way is suppression of emotional and unhealthy development of coping habits as well as unaddressed trauma that often ties extremely detrimental emotional issues. Lots of hurting, angry and often sad men who don’t have outlets because they’re conditioned to emotionally isolate vs seeking support. It runs deep. Then men often believe failing to meet these quotas will be seen as a deficit of character and something that needs to be changed. You'll also have people saying stuff like "It's just a White People thing or something white people made up because Black people are too good for this." And people just don’t bother with it. This distrust is caused by generations of oppression and abuse, only compounding the overall issue and is why I think it's very important to recognize how these issues affect our communities and learn to be emphatic and understanding within our own communities and other POC communities in order to improve our overall well being on a singular and communal level.”

When asked to describe the meaning of "masculinity," Khalil said "To me, I’d say it’s about a boldness of self expression and restores ting yourself as well as a man can be, be it if you dress like myself or whatever else you choose, you wear it well for your own sense of self worth, and you stand with pride and own that to the world. I also feel it’s super important to refine your mind and to be knowledgeable as a man, though this I feel can apply to anyone.

I simply feel that a man should always seek to hone and sharpen his mind, to expand, to grow, to better understand the world around him and in turn, himself. I feel this can truly help a man navigate as best as possible to get to the goals he desires, and opening experiences and possibilities to learn, and understand others as well. I’m rather passionate about this, as I’m sure you can tell. It's interesting and challenging to get to this point in my experience, but well worth it to reach that point of truly being who you want to be, and to realize it. My understanding of being a man is somewhat complex at this point given I saw a lot of conflicting messages about what that meant growing up. It was a struggle of what was told and what I felt deep down. For example, I was taught a lot of bigotry and misogynist views regarding women as young as my teenage years and really was only able to better understand and unpack in my later adult years and undo the behaviors that came with it. a lot of the imagery and attitude—being yourself and being allowed to be yourself was a huge conflict before more people than just myself. But now I can say that I am self aware and even comfortable with who I am as a man, and much deeper as a person. It’s taken a long journey to get here and well worth very mistake to reach this point within myself. I love being me.

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#18 Michael

As part 17 of the #AzaleaCampgian, it's my pleasure to introduce @legendofmkael

Michael "Mike" enjoys watching anime, reading manga, playing guitar, cosplay, and playing video games. He also streams games such as apex legends, ffxiv, and the dark souls game series on twitch! (twitch.tv/sokomir). Mike would describe himself as "I'm just a simple man, trying to make my way in the universe" (as quoted in the Star Wars prequels)

When asked about defining mental health, Mike has said, "for me, the concept of mental health is closely related to freedom. If I have the freedom to express my thoughts and feel like I'm living true to myself, I believe I am taking care of my mental health".

In the context of "masculinity," Mike also said, "This is a hard question for me because I wouldn't say I really think about masculinity. I feel like it's a concept that has very little impact on the way I live my life. I try to live my life pursuing what I want to do without much consideration to how others might perceive it. I think the idea of perception is at the core of masculinity. To pursue masculine ideals is to pursue society's perception of an ideal male. At the end of the day, that's simply living your life for someone else."

When asked what advice Mike would give to someone who wanted to change their physical appearance for positive and negative reasons, "I think positive, and negative are very subjective terms. Regardless, my only advice would be to be sure that they are changing themselves in a way that brings them closer to who they want to be and not the ideal of another".

Finally, when asking Mike what message, he would share to the people that matter to him the most:

I don't really have much to say because I think everyone, I'm close to is living their life that aligns with their own personal ideals, and I'm all about that. So, all I have to say to them out there is "keep it real."

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#19 Devin

"My name is Devin. I would describe myself as an influx, constantly changing and growing every day."

As part 18 of the #azaleacampaign, it is my pleasure to introduce @photosbydstyles!

Devin is a professional photographer that enjoys playing videogames, listening to music, bike riding, hanging out with friends.

Devin believes "Mental Health is how you measure one's well-being (psychically, spiritual, and emotionally speaking) and how a person acts morally." "I think it is about balance. It is about having fun and doing activities that are utilized to help us escape to a safe place and get your mind off things that can harm you". "In many African Caribbean households, we are not allowed to feel emotions; the world is constantly changing, and so are the perspectives we have not only about ourselves but for other people and the environment we find ourselves in."

Lastly, when asking Devin to describe his thoughts on being "masculine":

"The definition has shifted because growing up being a man or being masculine; you had to be macho, you couldn't be into the art, you couldn't like the pink. My definition, you are born male or identify as male. You are a protector, a provider you know your expression and not your gender identity—having a commanding presence and respect. Toxic masculinity, the counter, is different ideas and ways of thinking or combating. Everything doesn't have to brute force action; being gentle, it's okay to use your words first. Expression is a beautiful thing we should all embrace positively and healthily."

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As part 20 of the #azaleacampaign it's my pleasure to introduce Soo Kim.

Soo enjoys creating art, listening to podcasts, talking with friends, and playing video games.

When asked about what mental health means to him, Soo said, "there should be a focus on self-care." "Too many of us try to rush are ourselves into burning ourselves out. It's essential to take a break when you can, and I do it by making alone time for myself. This means making sure I can re-charge myself by focusing on my needs and doing physical activity such as talking a walk or working out".

When asked about masculinity and what it means to him, Soo said, "It's about having things under control, understanding others, having patience, and having firmness. By "Firm," I mean" seeing the situation and handling it calmly without harming themselves, these are traits that shouldn't be limited to men, and I think anyone can have." "As a Korean-American, I have seen and experienced toxic masculinity in my culture and personal environments." In my previous environments, people won't look at me positively because I couldn't match their ideals and expectations of who I was supposed to be according to everyone else." "For example, because I was a guy, there were certain hobbies or activities that I was discouraged from doing. “Even today, there are still toxic views within Korean culture." "For example, men are expected to be the primary breadwinners while women are expected to be at home "housewives," whose main job is to support the husband and raise their children."

Lastly, when asking Soo about what he would help someone who wanted advice on changing who they were, "if they were making positive changes, I would congratulate them on taking the first steps in wanting to improve themselves and to support them with their journey." "If they were making changes that didn't seem to be healthy, I try to help them understand why they need to make these changes and remind them that no one is perfect, but we should try to take of ourselves in a healthy manner."

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