Massy Arias has never been shy to talk about her mental health, and now the fitness influencer is opening up about her experience with postpartum depression.
In a cover story for Parents, the new mami discussed the depression and anxiety she lived with after giving birth to her daughter, Indi, in March.
“The postpartum period was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, made worse because I was determined to breastfeed but my nipples were a bleeding mess,” Arias, 29, told the publication. “Those first weeks, I would forget to eat. I would forget to bathe. It was all Indi, Indi, Indi. If she napped, I couldn’t sleep because I’d have to check to make sure she was breathing. I had so much anxiety. ‘Am I doing this right? Why is she crying so much? Those frickin’ hiccups, when will they go away?’ I was crying every single day. I was losing it.”
The dominicana, who began exercising years ago as a way to work through her mental illness, couldn’t wait to get back to the gym. However, as all new parents know, physical movement should be at a minimum postpartum.
“I had struggled with depression and anxiety before, so I knew what was happening. But I couldn’t do what I knew I needed to do to get better: exercise,” she said.
Arias initially found help in a mothers’ group before receiving clearance from her doctor to work out four weeks after her delivery. But when she started, she began having to deal with yet another problem: shaming.
“Some followers wrote things like, ‘Oh Massy, you are supposed to be resting, not getting your body back.’ But I wasn’t worried about my body; I needed to feel better. Comments implying I wasn’t doing what was best for Indi messed with my head,” Arias said.
While the comments made her upset, she did respond, telling her fans that her focus is never to “SnapBack” to her old body but to improve the performance of her muscles.
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Arias is finally beginning to feel like the “fearless” and “badass” woman she has always been, but she continues to speak out about her postpartum depression to help destigmatize mental illness and inspire women, especially Latinas, to get the help they need.
“Latinas never talk about mental health. I’m determined to change that and to help other mothers speak up,” she said.
Read: The New Face Of CoverGirl Is Dominicana And She’s Everything
