As someone with depression, I could not wait to get out of my hometown and start my new adventure at college. My hometown was not the best place for me, and I was counting down the days until graduation.
My struggle with mental health has been a long and hard one but I am finally in a place where I am good. I am trying to practice good mental health habits to keep my self-esteem up and not let little things bother me. I never had a positive image of myself, which has led to my incredibly low self-esteem. Up until recently, I was not able to love myself the way that other people seemed to love themselves.
I realized that I did not need the approval of others and that I just needed to be me and not care what anyone else thought. That is something that college has helped me with; I no longer care how I look walking to class in the outfit I chose for that day. I just do me without giving it a second thought. When you learn to not care about anything, it is like a whole new world opens up that you did not know existed before. It is the best feeling ever to feel free from some of the demons in your head that tell you that you are not as good as everyone else as you walk past a crowd of people.
All the people I have met at my time at Siena so far have helped me be myself more than I ever was in high school. I finally have a place where I am comfortable and can be myself without panicking that people will not like me. If they do not like me, then that is their problem. There were a few times freshman year where I had to learn that if someone does not like me, then I have to decide to just not associate myself with that person.
My mental health has gotten a lot better since being at Siena, but of course, as with any mental illness, it is not just going to go away magically. I still struggle, but I am improving with every step I take and am becoming more me than I thought I would ever be. Thank you, Siena, for helping me to be myself!