I look around my room and see quotes that once held empty meanings: "Change The World," "Never Give Up," "Live Laugh Love." The words are still there painted with the most delicate handwriting, but the meaning is now something different, something deeper, more complex, and beyond mine and your's control. Boredom got the best of me that day I carelessly painted them around my room but I like to view it as my past self-communicating with my present and future self, and boy am I listening, loud and proud.

When I walked into my room that first day after staying at the hospital, my mom had left three painted canvases that read, "be strong, be brave, be kind." My mother, who has always been a selfless giver by helping out whoever and wherever as much as possible is like me, in that she is a warrior. She, as well as my father, have been through so much, yet they are still able to put a genuine smile on their face and make everything better by just one look of admiration. You can truly feel their love emitting through anything and everything they do. Ever since day one, they have been with me, through Hell and high water. Their love has inspired me to become a better person in every aspect of my life, whether that be shown through my endless encounters with my family, my friends, or my peers.

I remember this one specific day in the hospital, where I was feeling alone and helpless. I cried and cried until my tears dried my skin because I believed that I had it worse than everyone else in all of mankind. The truth of the matter is, yes, my situation sucked, but I had a roof over my head, three hot meals every day, and support from inside, as well as outside, of the hospital. The majority of the people I met in that hospital had also a roof over their head and three hot meals but were lacking one thing: support. That's what kept them stuck in there, inside that hospital. Sure, they had phones to call their loved ones, but talking on the phone only goes so far. People in mental hospitals are just like you and I when it comes to needing face to face interaction to actually feel the support, which enables them to carry on and fight their battles. Support is essential in the healing process of recovery but without support, how can one start to self-love themselves?

Without a backbone, we won't be able to stand on our own.

Like a backbone, support allows us to stand on our own to make us stronger, braver, kinder. Being the humans we are, support can come in any shape and size just so long as we are searching for it. The funny thing about support is that sometimes, you never know how much you have it until something happens in your life that puts a hold on everything else you thought you had control over. If we lend support out to our peers, we get support back - that's how a support system gets started and works with ease. It's almost like a chain reaction that creates us into better people and better humans, which is pretty much what we need in the type of world we live in today.

Mitch Albom once wrote, "The world is full of stories, but the stories are all one." We are all connected somehow, somewhere. Our stories intertwine to make one big story of our time here on Earth, and if we start to look around, help each other out, and genuinely listen, we will be able to start the chain of support that could continue for generations to come.