Personal Stories

For the most part, I really do enjoy the holidays…I just try to block out all of the many things that push me back into my shell. 

Discussing my depression and other mental health conditions is terrifying for me. I hate seeming vulnerable and I hate being labeled.

When you have an eating disorder, it pulls you away from your passions until the disorder occupies the entirety of your mind. Part of what perpetuated my eating disorder was that I related so much of the disorder to my identity.

I go to a support group and discuss my struggles with people just like me. Not everyone will understand, but as a future social worker and survivor, it’s my duty to share my story.

Absolutely no one knew that two months before I moved into my tiny dorm room, I was sitting in an even tinier room in the psychiatric unit after attempting to take my life.

My mind is still a game of numbers and every day is a battle. It’s okay to lose some days. You can lose a battle and still win the war.

I know I will always be a person living with depression, but more importantly, I am Lauren. 

I am the author of my own life and I choose to put a semicolon instead of a period at every point that my depression tells me otherwise.

I haven’t cut myself in two years and a month. I’ve gotten a handle on my self-medicating. Was it easy to get to this point? I’d be lying if I said yes. Mental illness is not easy.

If I say I have depression you know what I’m talking about and you can grasp how I feel. But when I say I have borderline personality disorder I get weird looks and confused faces.