Stop glamorizing and romanticizing anxiety and depression. Being broken isn't beautiful. Anxiety attacks aren't glamorous. College students advertising that they have anxiety about finals and poor mental health due to classes makes it hard for the people who are actually depressed or have bad anxiety. In the movies, being broken is glamorous and someone meets a character with the motive to fix them. It isn't like that in real life.

Anxiety isn't just being anxious about an exam or worrying that you won't do well this semester. Anxiety is more than that. It's always worrying about even the most minuscule things, not worrying about big exams or paying rent or paying bills. It's worrying about things that may or may not happen. Is your boyfriend cheating on you? Where are you going to be in ten years? Did you lock the door? Maybe you should check ten more times before bed to make sure that door is locked. Is that person ten rows down in lecture talking about you? It's small tics like biting your nails, excessive cleaning, OCD, or any tic that is triggered by anxiety.

Depression isn't beautiful. It's not being sad on rainy days. It's not being sad because your boyfriend of one year broke up with you. It's a constant veil of sadness. It's being sad for no reason at all. It's coming home from a date with your boyfriend and when you get in bed falling apart. It's when you're out with your best friend and, even though you're laughing and having a good time, there's a familiar feeling of sadness that you choke back. It's not glamorous to be so depressed that you can't seem to find the motivation to get out of bed for school or for work. It's not glamorous to cry yourself to sleep from overthinking.

Being depressed, having anxiety, being bipolar. It's not glamorous. It's not beautiful. It can't be fixed by meeting a special person that will fix everything and make you feel whole or happy again. You can't "fix" someone battling these illnesses. Why is it that we feel the need to beautify or glamorize poor mental health?

If you're depressed, have anxiety, or are experiencing any other form of mental illness, I urge you to get help. The National Alliance on Mental Illness can give you information on treatment, symptoms, education, legal issues, and more at nami.org or by calling 1-800-950-6264. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or tendencies, please reach out to a trusted adult or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. You are not alone.