Not all heroes wear capes, and according to Hollywood, not all heroes are brown or black or queer or women even. Growing up, there weren’t really any characters in my favorite video games, TV shows, or movies that I could truly relate to. No one that looked like me or sounded similar to me. Forever the sidekick, at best, and never really the main character. So I wanted to create a weekly series that highlights stories of brown geeks currently working in the industry. In these trying times, and beyond, my hope is that this slice of life series helps fellow brown geeks feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Since May is mental health awareness month, we asked actor/director extraordinaire, Karan Brar (Mira, Royal Detective, Stargirl, Jessie), how he’s balancing his mental health during a global pandemic.
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“Maintain Those Connections”
“My mental health recently has been pretty fragile given that, you know, when my depression really strikes in a day, there isn’t really motivation for me to be out of bed so it’s very easy for me to convince myself to be lazy that day since I don’t have anything or anywhere to be and that’s kind of the difficulty with quarantine.
“Nothing else is really happening right now. I kind of have to generate productivity within myself to keep myself going and on a schedule, but at the end of the day I do have a lot of resources. I am very grateful for my weekly therapy sessions, my psychiatrist, my meds that all really help to make that battle a little bit easier. But I do think that that routine has really helped to keep my mental health afloat throughout the years and it’s really hard when it just disappears like that.
“My friends have been such a vital part of my mental health and my journey with it. And yes, we have these physical distances that we need to keep between each other but it’s been nice to, you know, still maintain those connections. And we can still create positive spaces even if we can’t be in the same space with each other.”
—Karan Brar, actor
Thank you, Karan, for taking a moment to be so honest and open about your mental health.
