Mental Health Awareness Day was on October 10th this year. This is a day to take a step back and realize that mental health is just as important as your physical health. Just like you sometimes need to take a Tylenol for a headache or make a visit to the health center when you're feeling under the weather, you also need to remember that taking the day or a moment off to focus on your mental health should be the same thing.

I grew up in a very positive mental state, not to say that I didn't have reasons to be anxious or sad or scared or overwhelmed, I was simply oblivious. Although I knew the importance of mental health, I was not as aware as I would have liked. To make an analogy, I saw the world as a bubble. I probably knew many people who were having a rough time with their mental health in middle and high school, but my obliviousness got in the way of people actually disclosing this information to me.

Yes, this probably made me come across as fragile. Yes, I wish I could have made myself more aware, but I learned something along the way. I never knew who was having a rough time with their mental health, along with many other people, so I would simply try to smile at everyone I came across. It's the slight movement of muscles in your face that can completely make someone's day.

The cliche saying is "you never know what someone is going through", and although cliche it's very true. It's hard to disclose in general, but disclosing something related to mental health is admitting something that unfortunately has a stigma associated with it. Sometimes a simple smile to a stranger or a how was your day to a classmate can have a much larger outcome than you could have predicted. I used to smile at strangers and not think anything of it. I am now in college and have significantly grown up; I've watched people I know struggle and battle with their mental health and have experienced days where I need a moment or day to focus on my mental health.

I smile at strangers and think about people who get anxious every time they step on the scale in hopes that they didn't gain a pound. I smile at strangers and think about the people who get scared every time they walk into school fearing the bullies that constantly tear them down. And I smile at strangers who feel lonely, even for a moment, because no one should ever feel alone.