"As soon as my body is under water my mind is at peace and all the thoughts.." Fireside with Tiffany

Hey Friends,

I'm Tiffany Simonovski, it's so nice to e-meet you!

I am a scuba diver, lover of life, artist, social media fanatic and fashion designer. This all sounds really 'great', but I want to talk about the beginning.

I didn't always enjoy diving: limited visibility, unpredictability, sharks and just the ocean in general are all parts of diving I absolutely adore... but just a few years ago the ocean was my greatest fear and there was no chance you could get me to go in further than knee-deep. 

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Q.) How has mental health/illness impacted your life? 

Domestic violence was present constantly in my childhood, and I thought this was ‘normal’. I can’t be entirely sure that this is what has triggered any mental health symptoms, but anxiety has been such a major issue in my life. I, like many others, create barriers in my mind stopping me from doing the things I really want to. I’m learning each day slowly how those barriers are not real, and I have the power to step right through them whenever I decide to. You have this power too!

This is a skill I try to work on each day, and something I strive to get better at, feeling the fear - but doing the damn thing anyway!

Q.) What are your positive outlets and how did you discover them? 

I used to run away from negativity in my life by focusing on drawing, and creating artwork as a child. I’ve been super artistic since I was a small, and have carried this through with me today as a coping mechanism.

Throughout my life I have discovered more things I am passionate about, and creativity is always a common theme among them.

After art it was fashion design, then I found scuba diving in my late teens and early twenties. Prior to my first dive at 19, I had never stepped foot in the ocean due to fear (those pesky make believe barriers, and false narratives I tell myself in my head)

Taking the plunge and doing my first dive (extremely scared of course) was my first real experience that proved I can step past those barriers and face my fears, and that the scariest part was the lead up and overthinking.

Q.) Do you think diving has played an important part in recovering from mental illnesses? 

100%. Diving to me has been so meditative. As soon as my body is under water my mind is at peace and all the thoughts from the land-world are paused.

Gratitude is a huge helpful tool that I have put into practice the last 2 years especially. This is so healing combined with nature. Just being grateful for the experience of walking beneath the trees. It is such a rare occurrence that we even exist, I think the statistic is 1 in 102,685,000 which is basically a 0% probability that I, or YOU could have ever come to existence.

Q.) What is something that someone has said to you that has always stuck with you when overcoming hard times?

Done is better than Perfect!

Imperfect action and showing up as you are, real and unfiltered will always beat perfected and curated.

If we keep waiting around to know more about X, or thinking we’re too old for X, or "I am too late to try X now", it will never be perfect and it will never be released into the world. And so then what was the point of all the worry anyway? Confidence is learnt, so if you're waiting around until you feel ready, you'll be waiting around forever. Through releasing imperfect writings, singing, artwork, advice, photographs, videos etc. you will start to see clearer and clearer. Through action, clarity is found, and confidence grows!

Q.) What advice would you give someone that is struggling?

As hard as it may seem, please connect with someone and share what you're going through. If you don't have anyone you can speak to in your life, seek friendships in online communities, or even write it out in a journal to keep for yourself. We are so disconnected with ourselves and life in general, and I truly believe finding a connection point through any type of creativity is highly beneficial to improving mental health. Even just speaking to a trusted friend or family member is creative! You're expressing yourself!

Anything you can imagine your life to be, or anything you 'wish' you  were, or could do is POSSIBLE.  The power is within you, and it has been there all along.

I don't believe we are able to create visions of a future we 'wished' to have unless it was able to be created as a reality.

Do the work, take the leap. You're going to do so well!