Last month for Autism Awareness Month, I wrote an article about what autism awareness and acceptance meant to me. Since this month is Mental Health Awareness Month, I decided to do the same thing, but with mental health and mental illnesses because it has just as big of an impact on my life as autism.

I didn't have that much of an understanding about what mental health or mental illnesses were until I was a senior in high school, and getting a better understanding of mental health helped me discover how mental illnesses affect my life. I started to discover that I have been showing many of the symptoms of anxiety and depression, and later in college seeing symptoms of psychosis in me as well, and to be honest, it has changed my life for the better.

Just like how my autism diagnosis helped me put the pieces together and made me realize why I am who I am, asking my doctors about my mental health issues and getting a proper diagnosis helped me understand the other reasons why I am who I am. With the diagnosis, I was able to get the help that I needed and get access to the proper medication for my issues.

Mental health awareness to me means ending the stigma against mental illness and making others realize that it's a lot more common than they think. Mental illness will be masked until something triggers them into an anxiety attack or a depressive episode, and all I want is for more people to realize that mental illness can be anywhere.

Mental health awareness to me means making others who don't have that understanding of mental health understand that even the smallest thing can trigger an anxiety attack or a depressive episode (especially in my case), and taking medication can help me and many others control those episodes so we can live a better life. Taking medication for our mental health does not make us weak, it means that we want to be better and live a normal life.

Mental health awareness to me means teaching others that there is no one particular way to experience a mental illness, just like how there is no one particular way to experience autism. Someone with anxiety doesn't always hyperventilate or rock back and forth when they're having an anxiety attack. Someone with depression isn't always sad all the time. They're seen as regular people living regular lives, they just have some trouble with doing so.

Mental health awareness is one of my biggest passions when it comes to educating others about social issues, and since mental health affects most aspects of my life, it's not a surprise how passionate I am about mental health awareness. I could not be more grateful for the diagnosis of my mental illnesses because I would not be able to put together the rest of who I am and why I am who I am.