Life is the most difficult task that any of us will ever face. The continuous unknown, the constant changes, the roller coaster ride of emotions, the dozens and dozens of random variables that weirdly come into play at odd times. All of these things and more play a role in our daily lives and the struggles we face throughout them.

Each and every one of us has something that we struggle with. Something that challenges our own personal daily routines. To some, our obstacles may seem small, or not of extreme difficulty. To others, it may be one of the hardest things they will ever face.

For me, one of my hardest battles to date, and one I will continue to fight, is depression and anxiety.

My sophomore year of high school, I was officially diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. Not too long after that, I was put on some medication to hopefully level me out a little. By the time I finally went to see someone about it, I already knew somewhere in the back of my mind that this was coming. I wasn't sure of a lot of things at that time, but I did know that I wasn't myself. I had heard over the years that many of the things that I was feeling at the time were symptoms of depression and anxiety. So, when I was told later that it was that, I wasn't really surprised. Nonetheless, it still hurt a little to hear it out loud rather than just in my head.

I wasn't ready for the judgment that I was going to most likely receive, the looks I was going to get and people constantly telling me to stay strong, it's going to be OK, or just be happy and focus on the positive.

Telling someone with depression to just be happy is like telling someone who is furious to calm down. All that does is make things worse.

Those next 6 months to a year were rough, especially in the beginning. I spent a good majority of my time either alone in my room or sobbing in the living room in my mom's arms. I found myself losing all interest in anything other than sleeping. All the things and people that made me happy at one point slowly just became gray.

I felt that I was just living a gray life.

I was just going through the motions, blowing around with the breeze, just existing not living. I know this may sound morbid and dull, but that is really what my life was like. That's how I felt going in and out of every day.

Naturally, as most people do in this situation, I kept things under wraps. I refused to let anyone in on what was really going on, with me and my life outside of what I let them see, which of course only makes things much worse.

For anyone that has never had depression or anxiety (which I would never wish on anyone), it basically feels like having weights and chains wrapped around your wrists or ankles and you're constantly dragging them along behind you. Anxiety is like a constant feeling of shaking and lack of air.

If you combine the two it is the perfect storm of just absolute hell. At times, it felt like I was completely lost and didn't even know what direction I was going in. My days were long, and my nights felt eternal. Even with multiple therapy sessions, and the medications my life just still felt dull. Things weren't the same and didn't seem to be getting any better.

However, with time and hard work, things started to look up for me.

Slowly but surely, I started to see light where things were dark. I noticed that I would sleep to be healthy, not just to past the time or take the pain away for a while.

Going through all these hard times was a defining moment in my life, and most definitely made me part of who I am today. I still fight every single day to get through the things that try to pull me down.

We all have our demons, it's how you overcome them that makes you who you are.