Kiana Vismara
Daffodils in the Rain - A Healing Pocket Booklet

Healing is a journey. It’s not a straight line. It takes us over rocky terrain to the top of the hill only to bring us down to the valley again, where we need to start over. And that’s okay. For me, the last weeks were a journey to figuring out how to confront our fears, thoughts and emotions, but also on how to cope with them.

I looked at my own mental health journey and noticed it did begin around my adolescent years. I didn’t really know how to get the support I needed back then. And social media can be a scary place to wonder around when trying to help oneself, because of so much conflicting information.

Daffodils in the Rain is exactly the kind of book I wish I had at the time: it’s not your typical healing booklet, it’s a pocket booklet that is more of a support buddy you can take everywhere with you, guiding you on our way. It makes you move a little out of your comfort zone by answering questions or playing games with a friend, reflecting on your own emotions and thoughts, tuning into your body or cooking, reading, writing and learning.

Daffodils symbolise rebirth and new beginnings. So may the flowers remind us, why the rain was so necessary.

Process
It is apparent that our society is getting more and more depressed and anxious. The world is falling apart with wars and global pandemics. Especially in teens and young adults, a decline in happiness is inevitable due to social pressure, digitalisation and uncertainty of the future. It is clear that we are heading in a bad direction. Studies show, that the younger generations are more susceptive to mental health problems.

When I wonder through bookstores, I see that most of the self help books are all separate books on one topic. What is missing, is something compact, that you can carry around, with different topics combined. Something that is not just about only doing mental health exercises and writing down your thoughts. We want to get creative.

The pocket booklet contains 6 key topics: emotions, body, words, together, nourish and making love to yourself. Topics that might not seem linked to each other in the first place. But when you examine further, all of the themes have to do with aspects in our life leading to a more calmer state of mind.
Our mental health journey is different for everyone, but it is nice to know you are never alone. I included my own experiences and also other people’s words in the pages, to create a sense of community.

The world feels heavy right now, but if we can just bring a little bit of light into moments of our day, we are already moving in the right direction.