In my last piece, To the Girl Still Learning How to Love Herself, I admitted that I have depression, anxiety and have been recovering from an eating disorder. All that set-aside, I live a relatively normal life. I do my best to remain positive and people see that. People barely getting to know me would never look at me and say, "That girl has issues," they just see the part of me that I show to the world. Which is why, when the breakdowns do come, people are thrown off by me. They don't understand how I can be happy the whole day then in a few minutes everything changes and I become quiet and sad. Since people normally see the positivity I try so hard to radiate into the world, when I am sad their idea is to tell me, "Just be happy" or, "All you need is a positive mindset," neither of which help. Telling a person with depression to "Just be happy" is like telling a person with a broken leg to "Just walk it off."

There are so many stigmas we have about mental illness, and it honestly sucks. We don't treat mental illness the way we treat other illnesses, mainly because we can't see mental illness. If someone had the flu and they told you they feel extremely miserable, you would advise them to go to the doctor. Yet in most cases, if someone with mental illness reaches out and tells someone they feel awful and extremely sad, most responses are, "Just change your mindset," or, "Other people have it worse." We should not put someone down for the fact that someone else may or may not have it worse. Everyone is justified in how they feel and equating levels of "who has it worse" simply does nothing to help the person reaching out to you. Also, the fact that we cannot see mental illness does not mean it is not there.

Mental illness is a variety of issues, it's an umbrella of all things we consider part of our mental health. It varies from depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and the list continues; anything affecting your mental well-being is considered mental illness and it is a serious thing. We take it so lightly when someone tells us they are depressed because we hear the word so often, which is why I think we blow it off. But we shouldn't blow anything regarding mental illness off if a person is placing their trust in you hoping that you can help them. Suicide is the third leading cause of death - take it seriously when someone is reaching out for your help, and if you feel that you cannot help them, advise them to seek medical help.

But to those with mental illness, it's okay to ask for help, it's okay to reach out in times of need. We all need someone to help us and that isn't a bad thing. From therapy, to holistic measures, to medication; you will get better, and sometimes it just takes those first steps of reaching out to someone and starting therapy to be on the road of recovery. I'd like to leave you with a quote I came across, "Scars only show us where we have been, they do not dictate where we are going" - Anonymous. Keep on fighting, and know with time it will get better.