Being in a mental health emergency can be the most frightening, strangest, and almost foreign feeling in this world. It feels as if you are loosing control of everything you know to be so familiar. It's as if your mind has betrayed you and is calling the shots to lead you down a dark, unknown path. The feeling is paralyzing. Your entire world seems to crumbling faster than you can catch the pieces. You feel trapped in your own head because you believe in that moment, that no one understands. It is just you in a tornado of emotions in your mind. There are people supporting you whether you realize or not, and there are people there that will do anything in their power to try to help you. Except, a mental health emergency is blinding. So in that moment, it is you and your mind battling fiercely with one another.

When you are put into a crisis center, to help yourself, you are alone in the sense that when you are in there, it is just you. You cannot have any friends or family with you at all times. This is you and the strength you have and the willingness to get better. You are in that room with just yourself and many others who you don't know. So even though there are many ways in which you are alone, you truly are not. The people in that room are in the same situation you are and understand you more than anyone on the outside in many cases, and mine was one of those. The people I met inside that room taught me more in 6 hours of my life than any doctor or any other person ever has in my entire life. One man in particular opened my eyes and made me realize things that people have tried to tell me before, but coming from a person in a similar situation, in the same place as me, I heard it in a different way. I actually heard him. It all clicked inside my head because I felt a connection to him that I never felt with anyone else before because we were both in a psych ward in a psychiatric emergency and he genuinely, and quite literally, knew what I was going through. The lessons I learned that night are ones that I will carry with me forever and I hope to reach others with the lessons I learned from that one single man who was put in my life for a reason, even if it was for just a few hours of my entire existence. The things that he said to me, the advice, the compliments, the lessons, changed my life forever and meant more to me than I could ever describe. Just a few simple words impacted my life forever.

1. Don't sweat the small shit.

Don't let the little things in life get you down. Don't let them bring you down and get to you. Although sometimes the little things mean the most, don't let them get to you.

2. Just because you're big, doesn't mean you're tough.

This was something I really needed to hear because of my situation. Just because you may physically be big, does not determine the power you have. It does not mean you are very tough. Everyone has a side that allows them to be not so tough at times. Don't let anyone intimidate you or have any power over you to hurt you in any way. Size does not mean toughness.

3. The only person that matters in this world is you, no one else.

YOU matter. Put yourself first. Help yourself. Do what YOU want. At the end of the day, you are the only one that truly matters in YOUR life. People you love do matter but you always, always come first. Love yourself and respect yourself and care for yourself no matter what. This one was SO important to me.

4. If you want something, you put your mind to it and no one gets in between that.

Do not let anyone get in your way. You want something? You get it. You fight for it. You work for it. No matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone does, no matter if people try to stop you or pull you down and say you cant get it, your prove them wrong. You prove them SO wrong. Keep going. Get what you want no matter what it takes.

5. "You have so much going for you."

You do. You have more going for you than you realize. No matter how bleak it may be now, and no matter how much you want to give up, you have more going for you than you ever know.

These words that he said to me, every word, came clearer to me and touched me deeper and had more meaning that I could ever describe. I cannot thank this person enough for the advice he gave me and the lessons I learned that night. I carry these words with me every day and will for the rest of my life. The brightest and most influential lessons are gained in places you would never expect, at times you would never expect. It comes when you aren't looking and when you are least expecting it, but these are the times when it is needed the most. So to anyone who is struggling, I hope I am this person in your case, that this man was in mine. I hope that you listen to this advice, and hear the compliments as if I am saying them to you. I hope that I can help you just as much, and more, as this person helped me.

If you or someone you know is in distress or a psychiatric emergency, help is out there. Choose help. Choose life. Choose you.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

Or call your local Hospital or Crisis Center.