How Mental Illness Affects Your Life

I remember the days when I was just a little kid in elementary school who was always happy, having fun and carefree with no worries. I sure miss those days and I know I’m not the only one! As I got older, life became harder. And when I say “life became harder,” I don’t just mean because of the normal stuff us adults go through in life, such as paying bills, paying rent, going to work everyday or even finding a job and being financially stable. Anyone else out there who suffers from mental illness understands what I mean. I suffer from and have been diagnosed with depression, as well as bipolar disorder and anxiety. Doing every day tasks that may seem normal and simple to do are harder for me, such as getting up in the morning to go to work or even getting up in general. I want you to read about my journey and understand how important mental health is.

Many of us don’t think about the importance of mental health. Did you know that suicide is one of the leading causes of death in today’s world? Or how about the fact that most people walking this earth suffer from some kind of mental illness. It could even be a close friend, relative, coworker, or the person sitting beside you at a movie suffering from mental illness and you wouldn’t even know it. I was only 16 when I realized something wasn't right. I always felt depressed, couldn’t get up out of bed for school or anything, started cutting myself, had suicidal thoughts and snuck alcohol from the kitchen where it was hidden (I know I was a bad kid lol). The point is, I was depressed and didn’t know what to do until I confided in a friend who told me I needed to get help. She also suffered from depression and went to therapy. I didn’t understand what I was going through at first. I remember when I was younger and I had friends who suffered from the same thing and had cuts/scars on their arms. I never thought that I would ever suffer from the same thing, but I was wrong obviously. I decided to go to therapy and see a psychiatrist, which is exactly what I did when I was 17. I spent the whole summer going to therapy along with taking anti-depressants.