Social media sensation Macoy Dubs shares his story on how he battled his mental illness.
PLDT Inc., together with its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) culminated a month-long virtual storytelling series on mental wellness with stories of hope, survival and changemaking.
Hosted via its Better Today PH community platform, the telcos featured stories from social media sensation and TV host Mark Averilla, more popularly known as “Macoy Dubs”, and youth leaders and Kids for Kids PH founders Bella and Tasha Tanjutco, talking about their respective journeys of finding hope and inspiration for themselves and their communities.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa parents ko because they were really supportive when I had to seek help through a psychiatrist and take medications. Mayroon din akong mga kaibigan na umintindi sa sitwasyon ko (I am grateful for my parents because they were really supportive when I had to seek help by consulting a psychiatrist and had to take medications. I also had friends who understood my situation), Averilla said.
As a mental health advocate, Averilla shared his own philosophy when dealing with life struggles. “Imagine 365 days per year. Ilang araw lang ang umuulan. Hindi every day, ‘di ba? Mas marami pa rin ‘yong araw na mayroong sunshine. ‘Yon ang pilosopiya ko sa buhay. Kung magkakaroon ako ng problema na mabigat, I always believe na wala lang ‘yan. Dadaan lang ‘yan pero mawawala rin. (Imagine 365 days a year. There are only a few rainy days. It doesn’t rain every day, right? There are more days of sunshine. That’s my philosophy in life. When faced with a difficult problem, I always believe that it’s nothing; that it’s fleeting and eventually, it will pass.)
Averilla also emphasized the importance of creating a kinder culture and environment for people to have better mental health. “Kindness will go a long way. Always choose kindness."
Bella and Tasha Tanjutco of Kids for Kids PH talk about the rolle of the youth in creating hope for the next generation.
Meanwhile, Bella and Tasha Tanjutco focused their storytelling on the youth and the many ways in which they find and create hope for one’s community.
As active changemakers through their foundation Kids for Kids PH, the siblings started their storytelling by highlighting the importance of personal mental wellness within the context of advocating for causes within the community.
Bella Tanjutco shared, “In order to make a difference, one must be well enough to take on that challenge.” Building on this, older sibling Tasha Tanjutco said, “We need to talk about how our mental well-being, or how, as people, we are putting ourselves and projecting out into the world, how that is going to affect the environment, how that is going to affect the system through mindset change.”
The siblings also shared how the youth today have been very much active in initiating and supporting causes within their communities. Here, they shared how the older generations must serve as enablers for the youth to continue being the society’s hope for the future.
“They [younger generation] are going to know the solutions we have today. We have to keep moving forward. The world is constantly changing, and that is why listening to young people is the best source of hope; and the best source of action,” said Bella Tanjutco.
To close their storytelling session, the siblings shared how they continue to draw hope from the Filipino value of having close-knit communities.
“The Filipino people inspire us. We make sure that we go back to our roots – to our Filipino communities. We want to ensure that every Filipino has a fighting chance to live their lives the best way possible.”
Better Today PH
Better Today PH is PLDT and Smart’s dedicated community platform that aims to drive conversations and collaborations on wellness and changemaking in the digital space.
As the country’s largest and only integrated telco, PLDT and Smart embarked on this initiative to advance corporate commitment of promoting digital literacy and wellness, child safeguarding and online protection, and responsible digital citizenship among Filipinos and local communities.
In October, the Better Today PH platform focused on a month-long celebration of the World Mental Health Day via a four-part virtual storytelling series that featured the mental wellness journeys of different personalities and key opinion leaders.
Among the featured storytellers were TV host and Woman In Action advocate Gretchen Ho, superstar athletes Alyssa Valdez and Kiefer Ravena, Mental Health Law Author Senator Risa Hontiveros.
For more updates on Better Today PH, follow Better Today PH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - @bettertodayph.
