For my entire high school career, I was always the girl who took care of everyone else. If I was doing an assignment and someone needed me, I'd put that homework away. If I was about to go workout and someone needed some fro-yo because of a breakup, you can bet that I was the girl who'd ditch that workout and go with them.

Also, I was in a bad thing with a guy and every time we'd fight, I'd bake cookies so that other people would smile. I've always been the “therapist" friend, and that's a label that I wear proudly. It was never about me, and sometimes I felt like a dried-up sponge. I gave so much of myself to other people, and if I ever needed something, it felt like there wasn't anyone there to help.

This past year at college, I realized that I was the most unstable one in my friend group, which was new. They didn't trust me to make my own decisions with boys or trust me to make smart decisions when going home. I also was the one with the most baggage, which I didn't know would affect me so much.

Suddenly, I wasn't the therapist or the mom friend. I was the friend who was a complete wreck walking into my freshman year of college. Last year was interesting in that my friends had to force me to talk about all of my feelings because I became so used to being bottled up and not dealing with them.

This summer is now totally different from both of those situations. I'm not as close to the people I went to high school with and I'm also away from my college friends for the summer. Also, back home I've gotten a job, and that's really added to my "I'm caring about myself" mentality.

Now that I'm making my own money, I've gotten really picky about what I want to spend it on. I'm saving for clothes, giving money to the church, saving up for a vacation, and trying to keep some money to spend on things for my future apartment. Also, since I'm trying to take care of myself financially, I'm focusing on myself physically. This includes having a six-step face care routine and going to the gym several times per week.

So right now, I'm taking care of myself financially, physically, and mentally and I'm not ashamed.