Every great person experiences some sort of downfall, every good individual comes across a lesson, and every writer experiences this dreadful thing we like to call “writer’s block”. I was completely at a lost this time y’all so I did what anyone with writer’s block does…I turned to Google. I googled “ what are some interesting article topics?” and searched for the topic I felt resonated with my emotions for the week, and found the perfect one.
The topic reached out to me as clear as day.
“Are you trying so hard to be happy that you’re actually becoming sad?”
I am a very personal writer, but there’s a lot of things I’ve never been comfortable to share with the world. I think that’s one of the reasons I joined an organization that allows me to write and discuss anything on my mind. I’ve written articles on stress, depression, and happiness, yet no one really saw the larger meaning behind it. I’ve experienced the “mid-college” crisis and I’m not afraid to admit it, and I’m also not afraid to share my story because it’s one worth being read.
Hi, my name is Tayla Camper and like many others my age, I experience mild depression and have since I was a sophomore in high school. I don’t say this for sympathy. I say it because in our community mental health is such a taboo topic, something I hope surely changes. “Just pray it away, only white people say they’re depressed, just take a nap” were many of the things I was told to deal with what I had been feeling. I remember my mother coming in my room yelling at me asking me why I told my guidance counselor “family business” but she didn’t ask me why I felt the way I was feeling. I never blamed my mother or father, they came from a different time period, they also didn’t know any better at the time. But let’s dive back into the core topic.
Are you trying so hard to be happy that you’re actually sad? Is a problem more common than most even assume? As a college student, you can go about trying to be happy in many directions. You can party, drink, smoke, mess with some dude to take the stress away but once it’s all said and done, you’re left feeling no better than when you started.
“Happiness in America has become the overachiever’s ultimate trophy. A vicious trump card, it outranks professional achievement, social success, family, friendship and even loves” said journalist Michael Gonchar. Happiness shouldn’t be some prize to achieve, it should come naturally. And for some reason the upcoming generation do not recognize this logic. I invite anyone who reads this and feels they relate to this to message me, whether it’s through social media or another form of communication. I have had a few students read my articles and comment that it helped them to see that the same pain had plagued them, and I’m open to helping anyone I can. It is okay to acknowledge your sadness, it doesn’t make you weird or weak, it makes you one of the bravest individuals to walk the earth. The first step towards true happiness is acknowledging the fact that you might not be as happy as the front you put on, but you will make it through and be okay.