Often times in my life, I have tried to handle all of my stress on my own. Anytime I have a problem, I try my hardest to take care of it by myself rather than go and tell people I need help. I do this for the same reason I think many people do this and that reason is that I would rather try to handle everything on my own than burden someone else with my problems. I do not want people to view me as a burden or dramatic. I do not want to give people a reason to not like me or be annoyed by me. Simply put, I think I am a burden when I ask for help.

The fact that I feel that I am a burden and that I cannot tell people about my problems means I probably need help. It took me a long time to even just realize that I need to talk to people about what I am feeling and my problems. It is not healthy for me to bottle up everything and try to handle it all on my own. I finally got to the point of having mental breakdowns and panic attacks so frequently that I realized okay this is a problem I need to talk to someone. My friend told me I probably should go to a counselor and that it was okay if I did. This blew my mind, so I have been going to a counselor and it was probably the best decision I could have made. I am still learning how to deal with my emotions and how to tell the people in my life what is going on, but I am finally at the point where I know I need to reach out to the people I love.

You cannot handle everything in your life on your own. That is impossible. This is why we have people we love and trust in our lives. I promise even if you think it, you are not at all a burden to your loved ones. That is probably the furthest thing from their minds. You can ask for help, it will not make you weak or a burden. In fact, asking for help is probably the bravest thing you could do.