Mental Health May: 3 Ways to Reclaim Your Peace
Because Burnout Isn’t A Badge of Honor
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. A collective invitation to pause, breathe, and prioritize self-care.
In Korea, May is also known as “Family Month (가정의 달)” – a season filled with Mother’s Day, Children’s Day, and a handful of other family-focused holidays.
In recognition of mental health awareness, camaraderie, and love: This week’s newsletter is dedicated to… You.
We wrote all over our website that our soon-to-launch skincare brand AROOM is a sonnet for working women. That we want to create skincare products that do not irritate – skincare should be simple, intuitive, and safe. Something women can mindlessly apply on a daily basis. Life already asks so much of you: To lead, to nurture, to connect, to perform. You shouldn’t have to wonder if your moisturizer is giving you a rash or if your serum will irritate your skin.
Still, we notice a pattern: Women, especially over-achievers like you, tend to overwork themselves. Maybe it’s biology – because women are genetically better at multi-tasking than men that we tend to put so much our plate at once. Even with overflowing duties, we rarely let anything fall (which somehow leads to more plates).
This May, focus on you – just you, nothing more, nothing less.
Consider this a quiet rebellion. I know, crazy to think about right? I mean who has time to just focus on yourself? But really, in all seriousness, this is a permission slip to make yourself the sole priority.Here’s our personal guide to honoring Mental Awareness May – and also every month after.
Self-Care Ideas for Mental Health Awareness Month 2025
1. Reconnect with Your Inner Child
Remember when fun wasn’t a reward but a daily essential? We tend to suppress the intuitive desire to pursue irrational joy, and sometimes the reality of modern life mandates it. But remember that the whole point of 9-to-5 is to have a better 5-to-9. Give yourself permission to be a little irrationally joyful again. Like paint something, get lost in the Met, ride a bike with no destination in mind.
There’s a particular kind of healing that comes from peeling off your adult shield for a moment. Stress, deadlines, and roles melt away — and what's left is a softer, truer version of you. Think of it not as regressing, but as remembering, this is the whole point.
2. Journal your daily retrospects
It’s tempting to think “journaling” means a 10-page brain dump under candlelight. But here’s a simpler approach: Just jot down three quick things each night.
- Something you noticed.
- Something you felt.
- Something you’re proud of, even if it’s tiny.
Daily reflections help slow down the mental scroll of your life. They create space between experience and meaning. When you write, you claim your own story — not the version filtered by social media, or measured by output, but the one that belongs to you alone.
3. Cook Yourself a Proper Meal
In the age of DoorDash and Uber Eats, it’s easy to treat food as another transaction.
Cooking — real cooking — is an underrated act of radical self-respect. I’m not talking about protein shakes or microwaved noodles. We're talking about chopping real vegetables, simmering a sauce, plating a meal you’d proudly serve someone you love. (And yes, that “someone” is you.)
There’s something almost meditative about following a recipe, tasting as you go, and ending the process with something nourishing you created with your own two hands.
Small Acts, Big Changes
What I described may sound too obvious (or too naive). But think back to April. Did you spare time just for joy, reflect, or cook something for yourself? I sincerely want you to say “Duh, I did them all, it’s not that hard”. But I know the world doesn’t make space for self-care, at least not without guilt or an apology.
That’s why we’re building AROOM: Not just as skincare, but as a relief ritual. AROOM hopes to be a mental health advocate for all working women. A way to press pause for a few minutes each day and remember that you deserve softness, too.
Our first products are now lined up at our manufacturing facility, ready to be filled, sealed, and sent out into the world. With hopes of our products being some form of relief, we are counting days until launch.
Until then, let May be a gentle revolution.
Want to follow along as we build AROOM from scratch?
Subscribe below to get the next chapters delivered straight to your inbox.What it takes to build the 33,001st beauty brand in Korea:
- Part 1: The Why
- Part 2: Being a “Founder” Is Not a Luxury
- Part 3: Product Development (1/2)
- Part 4: Product Development (2/2)
- Part 5: Branding
💌 Subscribe to get the next update