Selena Gomez has been performing in her Revival tour since May of this year. At the end of August, she announced she would be ending her tour early. Selena has been open about the fact that she has been diagnosed with Lupus, and had to undergo chemotherapy treatment to help with her condition.

After the chemo was over, Selena came back into the spotlight. So if her Lupus is doing better, why would she leave again?

Along with the issues relating to her Lupus come side effects that differ from person to person. Gomez specifically has been experiencing anxiety, panic attacks and depression.

There is an idea enforced by many that mental illness is not a real illness. Those that suffer from mental illnesses such as these are often put up against obstacles that people who have physical illnesses do not experience. Mental illness is seen as an escape or an excuse to be lazy or to get out of doing as much work as people who are mentally healthy.

Selena Gomez is not a weak person. We've watched her grow from an adorable Disney star, to dating poorly behaved singers, to now having her own career and her own life. She has spoken out about the difficulties about having Lupus, which is hard enough as it is, but now is willing to speak out about her mental issues resulting from her illness. Her taking a break from being on tour for four months, which is tiring enough, should not be seen as defeat.

Hopefully having celebrities like Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato be more open about the struggles will help to encourage society to de-stigmatize mental illness. The fact is, it's ok to suffer from poor mental health, it's ok to ask for help about it, and it's ok to put other things aside to make your life better.

As for people that are not celebrities, most of us can't just take time off of our jobs when we're suffering from various types of mental illness. Celebrities have the privilege of taking time off if they need to. However, if celebrities go through these things as well, hopefully they can make the stigma of "lazy" leave the conversation surrounding mental health.