Suicide has been in the headlines, day after day, week after week. I have one thing to say and it will probably piss some people off and might even make people who are in similar shoes laugh. Why are you now just sharing the suicide hotline number? Are you doing it because everyone else is? Are you doing it just because another person died from suicide?

I remember when I texted this suicide hotline number.

It was last spring, and it was after my doctor tried to up my anti-depressants. My heart was racing, and my mind was telling me all these lies. That my boyfriend was going to break up with me because I was crazy. That I was so unloved and didn't have a purpose.

I took a cold shower trying to catch my breath and to shake the thoughts from my head, but they weren't going anywhere. I sat on a bench on campus texting this stranger. This was the first time I ever have talked to someone from the suicide hotline. We probably texted for three hours until I was okay enough to go to bed. I didn't have a plan. I didn't even want to kill myself.

I wanted to escape everything just for a second.

And someone who has thought about killing themselves by suicide will know exactly what I'm talking about. I've never had a suicide plan. Most people who are serious about killing themselves have a plan and will at least attempt it. I have never been there, but I have had friends and family members who have.

Depression is a silent battle that you can't see from the outside most of the time. I know it's getting bad again for me personally when I don't get out of bed. I don't shower for days or forget to take my daily meds. I know it's bad again when I'm self-sabotaging myself day after day. Yet no one would know any of that unless I've expressed how I'm feeling.

They probably just think that I'm tired, and just need some rest.

Something that really gets me going is everyone dropping the suicide line everywhere out of nowhere. At the end of each news segment, on Instagram posts and in tweets. I'm not trying to start a war, but you're not helping. I mean, maybe you are helping one person which is great! I kind of find it two-faced. Why do you now care? Where were you when they needed you?

I know you want to help. I know you do. Yet there are other ways you can help besides dropping the 1-800 number everywhere. You can ask your friends how they're doing. Your strong friends, or your friends who are going through a hard time. You can tell them how loved and important they are.

You can tell them how they still have a story to tell.

Mental health issues are everywhere. Substance and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, Adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Bipolar, Depression. There are so many mental health problems that some people don't realize they have until they're older.

I knew that I was depressed in middle school, but it wasn't until my anxiety attacks made my mom and I think that I had severe back pain. No, I was just having back and chest pain during an anxiety attack to the point where I was laying on the floor. Use your voice.

Sometimes you need a little help from meds and that is ok. I'm on medication that is now making me get out of bed every day, shower, take care of myself, and do everyday things that on bad days I couldn't do. Yes, there are still going to be bad days. Yet the good days will outweigh the bad days. Seek help. Take care of yourself. Talk to someone who you love and know will support you.

It's a journey. It's a large mountain that has many bumps and curves along the way. It's scary and it's okay to cry and have a moment. You're going to be mad at the world, and you're going to not want to go on.

Yet the peace of mind you will have at the end will be worth it.

I'm on my journey still. I'm going to have to work on my mental health the rest of my life since a lot of it is genetic – not just our generation. It's not just a phase, and it's not just our younger generation. So many things can cause mental illness and so many things can make you feel better. Seek help and take care of yourself, please.

So many people care about you. Friends, strangers, family members, and, classmates, and family members that aren't blood. The sun will rise tomorrow, and it will be a new day.

I'm not going to drop the suicide hotline, instead, I'm going to tell you to reach out to me on social media. Reach out and let's talk. I will send you encouraging words, and I won't sugarcoat the truth.

We will get through this together.