Living With....

Living with a mental health issue can be really hard. You feel alone, like nobody in the world could possibly understand what it is you are going through despite knowing there are probably millions of people that feel the same way as you.

Sometimes getting out of bed is the only thing you achieve in a day but that might be more than you've done in weeks. Sometimes you get perfect grades and have perfect clothes and perfect manners. Sometimes you can't stop smiling on the outside despite falling apart inside.

It's not that you love people any less. It's not that you don't want to be near people. It's not that you're lazy. It's not that you're crazy.

Sometimes you just can't. Sometimes your brain says yes, but your anxiety says no. Sometimes you try and fail and you lose hope. Sometimes your depression won't even let you try.

It doesn't just go away like that. It never really goes. Sometimes you just learn to be better than it. Sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you look fine and you function but you're not fine. Sometimes you want help but you don't know how to get it. Sometimes you have the opportunities for help but you don't know how to ask.

Mental illnesses aren't the same for anybody. Two people might have the same label for their illness, but how it affects them will be nothing alike. There is no one way to live with a mental illness.