Let me start this off by saying that I am not one to be emotionally vulnerable. In reality, I try to avoid feeling vulnerable at all cost but today I am going to be real with you.

So a little about me! My name is Danielle. I am in my mid-twenties, very upbeat and would like to say just as outgoing. I am a mother to a very energetic and wild soon to be two years old. Overall I would say I AM ME! No one else and would not want to be.

This starts out several months ago when I was feeling a bit not like myself. I seemed to be crying all the time. It would happen randomly and I could not seem to control it. Getting up and out of bed was a process. Feeling down and out was happening more that usual and causing lots of self doubt. My hands would start shaking uncontrollably at work especially if I was talking to my boss. I would ask my boss to check over my work because I never thought I was doing it right. These feelings were not to unfamiliar to me because I remember feeling like this at times from junior high through college, but never at this capacity.

What was it? What was wrong with me? Movies with happy moments made me cry. Videos online with a kind of sad moment had me balling my eyes out! I felt like a total mess. I would be driving and start crying or looking at numbers on my computer at work and trying to hold it all back.

I had about enough of it! I had to face the facts. I had a problem with depression and anxiety and as much as I had been trying to shove it deep down for so long it finally reared its ugly head worse than ever before. I needed help. I could not afford to stay in bed all day when I had a beautiful baby who wanted to go out and enjoy playing in the park. I would drag myself out of bed before I ever let her suffer for my state. I could not afford to isolate myself from friends. No matter how I felt I knew I needed that support system.

For the first time in a long time I was at my most vulnerable.

I decided it was time to see my doctor and talk to her about my options. We went with and antidepressant/ anti anxiety medication that has helped me get back to the upbeat outgoing me.

Though the medication helped me a lot I did not tell anyone I was on a medication for awhile. Medication tied to mental health is not always so welcomed.

After awhile I opened up to everyone and told them what had been going on. They of course still accepted me for me and treated me no different.

Don't get me wrong I still have moments of depression and anxiety but the best thing anyone can do that suffers with it is to seek help. Seek a counselor if needed or a doctor who can direct you to a medication that can help. But never just isolate yourself. We all need a support system for different things and times in our lives. I know when I am feeling off I have someone to talk to or a friend who will say "Get dressed we are going out!"

I am never alone and if you are out there and feel like no one gets what is going on, trust me there are people who do. You may not see it but everyone fights the battle differently and there is always someone out there willing to stand by your side and fight it with you. I will fight it with you. Life is so precious to sit on the sidelines, its time to fight to and enjoy its beauty.