In my freshman year of high-school, I had absolutely no hope whatsoever for myself. I didn't have any dreams, didn't have any plans and sure as hell didn't want to be alive.

I was a shell of who I used to be.

One night, in May of my freshman year, I decided that I had enough. That night I took 14 prescription pills in hopes that it would kill me. And, if I'm being honest, sometimes I still wish it had killed me.

Do you know what it's like to wake up every morning and be angry because you wish you hadn't woken up?

Do you know what it is like to wake up and only ever be excited to go back to sleep?

Do you know what it is like to wish you never woke up again?

Well, that was my life for quite some time.

The day after I took all of those pills, I skipped school because of the fact that I was vomiting. Nobody in my family knew what I had done until later in the day when I told my best friend, and he told me that I needed to call an ambulance.

It felt as if there were bricks in my stomach and a sledgehammer had been hitting my head all day.

When the ambulance showed up, I was petrified. Along with the ambulance, there were police cars. They came inside of my house and took my blood pressure and asked what my symptoms were.

This was my first time ever being admitted to the Emergency Room.

After around five hours inside the Emergency Room, I was loaded into another ambulance. This time on the way to a psychiatric ward about an hour and a half away from my hometown.

After what was no doubt the worst car ride of my life, I was there. Needless to say, I was freaking out. My whole body was shaking and my mind was racing.

I was in the hospital for four nights and three days. We ran by the same schedule every day and didn't have much time for anything else.

However, I do remember that one night we did get to watch a movie together before we had to go sleep.

The schedule ran like this: Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to “school”, lunch, mandatory group therapy, arts and crafts (my personal favorite), visiting hours (my parents and my brother were there every day), supper, free time and then bed time.

This was my life the entire time I was there.

When I was there, at least one new person came in every day. We felt safe around each other because we were all going through the same things. We bonded and became extremely close and, even though the doctors said not to, I still remain in contact with some of the people who were there.

Coming back to school was more difficult than I had anticipated. Everywhere I went, people were staring at me, whispering about me or pitying me.

This, of course, drove me absolutely insane.

Mental illnesses are life long battles and, unfortunately, not everyone will come out alive.

It is said that one person commits suicide every 15 minutes.

In fact, the World Health Organization says that by the year 2030, depression will outpace cancer, stroke, war and accidents as the world’s largest cause of death.

As a band that I greatly enjoy called Rise Against said in their song "Make It Stop," “It’s always darkest just before the dawn, so stay awake with me let's prove them wrong.”

And if you're looking for a sign to stay awake, this is it.