#TUEmpower by @jenbudmul

I grew up in Jakarta with strict parents and two incredible siblings that I consider my best friends. Being the middle child, I like to challenge our family's rules and norms which I definitely think shaped me to become someone who is not afraid to take risks and to fight for what I believe in.

Jen on her 21st birthday in 2018—the year she started @seributujuan.

Since I was in high school, mental and sexual and reproductive health have always been a key interest of mine. When I first started my mental health platform @seributujuan, I was 21 years old studying in the healthcare field in Australia. I kept getting reminded of the stark difference with Indonesia. The mental health services and information that are provided by universities, government and organisations in Australia are plenty; on the other hand, the societal stigma on mental health that still exists in Indonesia makes it harder for people to seek help, which I’ve seen first hand as this has significantly impacted the people closest to me.

In fact, I had my first period before someone told me what menstruation is, I learnt about sex from my friends, and unfortunately, I’ve experienced sexual abuse myself.

This was how my vision—to improve accessibility to mental, sexual and reproductive health care in Indonesia—began to grow. It's been almost two years since I started @seributujuan in 2018, and my vision with it is to be a multilayered and multidisciplinary solution for mental health in Indonesia, both online and offline.

One of the people who’s been directly impacted by my cause is my closest friend; he did not believe in mental health, made 'crazy' jokes about mental health conditions, teased those who went to therapy, and very insensitive of suicide. He followed Seribu Tujuan to support me, but slowly, he started engaging in the posts and topics. One day, he reached out to me to ask about therapy and where to seek help for mental health. Not long after, he started going to therapy and thankfully, it helped him immensely with what he was going through at the time. He told me that he never thought that he’d be one who would ever believe in mental health, yet here we are.

This is an example of why I believe education should always be the root of every intervention. Though the impact can at times only be felt years down the line, it has the power to change society.

I also hope that @reprodukasi can work with the government to provide comprehensive sex-education into schools and universities in Indonesia. However, being a mental and sexual health advocate doesn’t come without its challenges. Navigating conversations surrounding these topics is challenging.

As you can imagine, mental health and sexual health are two causes that are stigmatised and taboo in Indonesia. With Reprodukasi for example, the nature of the topic does make it easy for Indonesians to dismiss it or label it as 'porn'.

Knowing this, we took over a year to think through our vision, mission and also the nitty-gritty such as topics, language, tone and style we used to make sure it is appropriate, understandable and well received. On top of that, my parents are your stereotypical asian parents who’d make jokes about mental illness and have outdated opinions about sex-ed. They also have a rather narrow idea of what success is, and building an organisation from the ground up is not one of them.

My parents have repeatedly told me that they are very against both and are sometimes embarrassed to have me lead these organisations.

But the thing is, there will always be people who doubt you, judge you and belittle you but the most important thing is, you don't doubt yourself.

However, we’re all human and at times can feel demotivated and discouraged. So I keep reminding myself that growing an organisation is not always linear, and there are many times that we'll face hardships that can test our endurance; the important part is to push through. Also, having a team that I can lean on has helped me tremendously whenever I feel down or insecure—I do have to credit my core team, Bayu Sasono and Indigo Keyla who have helped through the unexpected challenges of Seribu Tujuan and Reprodukasi.

So though it may seem like I have it all together, I’m also still figuring life out. It's amusing that we put this pressure on ourselves to have it all figured out in our 20's, but in reality, there is still time. However, Ikigai is always what comes to mind when talking about your life's purpose. In other words, the way to find your reason is to find balance—where you keep in mind what you are good at, what you love, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. And if there’s a saying that I keep close to my heart, it would be:

"Sometimes you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted."
—Christine Caine

Like many other people, there are times in my life when I didn't understand why certain things happen. I questioned many things and felt like life was being extremely unfair. It's very easy for us to dig ourselves in our dark holes, but we forget that life goes on.

Sometimes the lessons you learn from your journey of overcoming the worst things, can just be the gift you give others.

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@jenbudmul’s story is an exclusive blog post by Things Untouched.