A viral trend has been going around the Internet where people are getting tattoos of semicolons (;). It has been featured on Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. It first started when Jeremy Jaramillo, Associate Director at the Agora Crisis Center, was approached by some of his volunteers who brought to his attention “a sort of Internet meme of this semicolon concept going around and why don’t we take it and make it a tattoo?,” Jaramillo told BuzzFeed.

The project was said to have started in 2013, but people have only begun to post pictures of their tattoos online as of recent. The significance of the tattoo is that an author uses a semicolon when they can end the sentence, but they choose to add another part. It is important to mental illness in that it serves as a reminder that their story is not over.

Not only is it used as a form of inspiration, but the tattoos are meant as a conversation piece. They are being used as a means to start the conversation about mental illness in hopes of eliminating the stigma behind it.

The stigma that comes with mental illness is that it is commonly associated with being crazy and out of one's mind. The thing is, that's never the case. Anxiety disorder affects 18 percent of the population in the U.S, 7 percent of the population is affected by major depressive disorder, and that's only the beginning.

The stigma around mental illness is the biggest barrier to getting help. Those who have mental illness don’t want to admit they have it because they don’t feel that they do--they don’t feel crazy. When they do get help, it remains a secret. Going to therapy is so private for many people.

As someone who does suffer from an anxiety disorder, the hardest part about having a mental disorder is embracing the fact that it doesn't mean that something is wrong with you.

And it's not necessarily something that is wrong with you, it's just something that's there. It's a part of your life and how you live day-to-day.

From my own personal experience, the stigma around mental illness was something that kept me from getting the help I needed. I just thought it was all in my head. That’s the reality for so many people with mental illness, but the bottom line is that going to therapy is the first step in being able to live a happier life. We all have the right to be happy, some of us just need a little help.

The semicolon tattoo is not only a conversation starter, but also a symbol of pride. Something that not a lot of us with mental illness ever have when talking about our disorders.

If you have been having thoughts of suicide or know someone who is, please call the suicide hotline at 1-800-273- 8255 or check out http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

And just know that your story is not over.