Unwinding With The RaRityTX

By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

You know how some people like Walmart and others prefer Target or some like Pepsi and others choose Coke? Some people wear shorts most all year long while some need to get into their warm leggings/pants even if it’s only 70 degrees and some people just would never ever have a dog but would have a couple cats.

Ramon Ruiz IV, who works as a Psychiatric Evaluator for Galveston and Harris County hospitals, shared some of his thoughts on the need for individual choices in mental health. “Everyone is different and how they choose to unwind, de-stress, and relax will be an individual choice. But all people need a method for letting loose the negative energy that comes from daily living,” said Ruiz.

“I recommend people  just get out and move, do something physical that gets up a sweat like running, swimming, playing a sport, just do something to let the energy out,” Ruiz added.

 What does Ruiz do to release his pent-up emotions? Well he has two main outlets. He’s a rap musician and creates lyrics as often as he can. His work focuses on humans and lifting people up out of their low places.

His hip hop name is RARITYTX. “Back when I started, my friends kept telling me I needed a name and I was looking at my computer and there was the word, so I made it my own and I’m in Texas so I added TX,” explained Ruiz.

Ruiz grew up in a household filled with music.  If it wasn’t his parents love of disco and music from Mexico it might have been his cousins and their love of hip hop who introduced him to 2 PAC and EMINEM.

He doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t in love with music, but creating his own lyrics didn’t take shape till he was around 18. “I was just impressed with ‘hey there’s this word and how can I rhyme it with another word and then it leads to another word,’ and I just keep going,” shared Ruiz.

His love of hip hop is fused with his love of mankind, and he has found Bob Marley’s work to be particularly inspirational for him as a person and as a creator.

Ruiz has worked in the mental health profession since graduating from the University of Houston. He majored in psychology. “I started out in finance, but I didn’t like the subject and I was really enjoying my psychology classes, so that’s the direction I went,” said Ruiz.

His first job was working in an adolescent in-patient facility in League City.  He served as a direct patient care professional and met a lot of troubled youth. During his years working at the facility, he pursued a masters from U of H and then landed in his current position: making assessments for medical personnel of people who need mental health care at a regular hospital.

“I am very content with what I do, and I hope the patients hear some of what I suggest, but mostly it is my job to ask them questions and listen,” Ruiz explained about his position.

“I think if people could just be more mindful of the present it would help them a lot. When people are anxious, they are worried about the future and when they are depressed, they are thinking about their past. And people need more coping skills.  I ask people what kind of coping skills they have and most of the people I see on the job don’t have good coping skills,” said Ruiz.

 “Everyone is complex, but it is usually unhealthy ways of thinking and coping that bring people to a crisis,” explained Ruiz. This is where the idea of each person is different and needs to select their own healthy coping skills comes into play.

Not only does Ruiz create hip hop rap rhyming music for relaxation, but he also practices meditation and yoga. “I feel it is the spiritual aspect of my life that helps me the most,” said Ruiz.

There is no one answer or one size for all people in building healthy outlooks and coping skills, but Ruiz does feel there are some key ingredients everyone should have in their lives, such as a good diet, exercise, good sleeping habits and healthy human relationships.

“It’s good to be with people who inspire and uplift you, but that’s not always possible so that’s why you need to build coping skills,” said Ruiz.

Ruiz is content with his career in the mental health profession, but he plans to expand his writing to books one day and he’d like to start a podcast. “My goal as a rapper is to have as many people as possible hear my music. I like being helpful to people with their lives and I hope my music is helping people,” said Ruiz.