Do you ever feel like you are the only one feeling dark and helpless? Trust me, you are not. More people than you know have some form of mental illness that they are struggling with. For some reason, there is a huge stigma around mental illness and that is why it's hard for people to ask for help because they are carrying a sense of pride on their shoulders.

Reaching out for help is one of the strongest things you can do. You need to remember, you are not alone and there is always someone who will listen. Being bipolar and having depression and anxiety is something I wish I didn't have but it is something that I have learned to manage. Some days are harder than others, and I constantly ask myself, “why me?”. Why do I have to be this way? Why can’t I be happy and feel alive?

Your mind is in constant battle with the negative thoughts and even the happy ones. It's like it can't make up its mind on how to feel. The anxiety just gets worse and worse and it feels almost crippling. You are constantly worried that an anxiety attack is going to creep up on you. The voices in your head just keep saying you need to give up now while your at it. You feel like a complete and utter failure. A waste of space. But that is totally not true at all. You are a beautiful human being with so much more life to live.

Please, whatever you do don’t give up,

You have so much more life to give and if you aren’t struggling, someone you know is probably having a war inside their brain and they need a good support system. Be that person that they can go to in their time of need. Just listen to how they feel and be a shoulder to cry on.

As a society, we need to end this stigma that asking for help is weird and we need to come together to be a support system for someone who is struggling.