In the 21st century, people enjoy things that are tragically beautiful. People take to the idea of "ending the stigma" like a dog to water. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing. I'm not here to talk about that. What I am here to talk about, however, is when people take "deleting the stigma" too far.

"Wow, I had water for lunch today. I'm literally so anorexic."

"Pretty sure I just bombed that Chemistry lab, I'm so depressed."

"I cleaned my room for two hours today! My OCD gets the best of me all the time!"

Society has turned mental illness into something that's "beautiful", "creative", sometimes even "edgy". Suddenly, everyone and their mother has anxiety, depression, anorexia, OCD. They're convinced that having some sort of mental illness would aid them in making friends or to "fit in".

Since when did associating ourselves and others with something that is so painful become a normal thing to do? Having a mental disorder is not beautiful, it's real. It's all consuming, it's draining, it hurts. Some people who genuinely suffer from these illnesses find it near impossible to talk about them.

Truth is, no amount of graphic pictures, flowery quotes and and black and white filters can make the romanticizing of mental illness okay. Let me break it down to you. Just because you cried when Marley died in that movie does not mean you have depression. You do not have anxiety because you get nervous 30 minutes before your Western Civ exam. You do not have PTSD just because you were elbowed by a boy one time in seventh grade. Just because you didn't sleep well one night does not mean that you're an insomniac. You do not have OCD because you are slightly more organized than most people, you do not have anorexia because you skipped a meal, and you do not have bipolar disorder because you're PMS-ing.

News flash!

Depression is not beautiful. Having your hair fall out because you aren't eating anything is not classy. Panic attacks are not fun. Constantly falling asleep in class and having permanent dark eye circles because you haven't slept in days is not adorable. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that depression looks nothing like what Hannah Baker made it look like. It's feeling yourself slowly spiraling out of control with no clue how to fix it, and living every day in a war zone where you have to make choices between living or dying and trying or giving up. It's sleepless nights, medication that makes you feel like a zombie, under-eating, overeating and that intense feeling of dread whenever you even think about stepping on a scale. It's making plans, cancelling them last minute and losing friends. It's the crappy feeling of being too much, yet not enough. In short, it's a constant game on whether or not the voices are gonna win this time.

So, let me ask you: Is perpetual sadness really beautiful?

I don't know about you, but I don't think walking around every single day feeling like there's a fifty pound weight on my shoulders is enjoyable. I don't think being ready to give up before the clock even hits 8am is beautiful. Pain equals pain, and pain isn't pretty. So please- stop romanticizing mental illness before it becomes an even bigger problem in society than it is now. Our words and our actions have more of an impact on others and on ourselves than we know.

I want you to stick around. If you or someone you know suffer from any of these horrible disorders, please call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1800-273-8255. All the love.