This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Vanderbilt chapter.
For anyone that knows me, it is pretty much a well-known fact that I do not divulge too much information about myself to others. For many, I am a walking enigma, sometimes being seen, but rarely being heard. As the years have gone by, I have grown more elusive, more invisible. I always thought it was because of my shyness and introversion, but I was wrong. It was severe depression.I never thought that I would be one of the many people who are plagued by mental illness. I thought that I was just a shy, introverted person and that my growing feelings of isolation were just me becoming more comfortable with being alone. But, I had no idea that this disease was consuming me, my desires, my motivation, my life. I had always tried to ignore it, but when it began to affect me physically, I knew I had to take some sort of action.
It has been less than a month since my official diagnosis and while I can’t say that I’m happy to be depressed, I am happy that I am able to start getting treatment to help me live a more fulfilling adult life. I refuse to enter the next stage of my life feeling hopeless and worthless and if you relate to anything that I have said, you shouldn’t have to either. Depression is a serious condition and it should be treated as such. Don’t be like me and try to fix it yourself or will it to go away because it won’t. It’ll laugh at your futile attempts and grow stronger, making you feel even worse than you did before.Your war against depression won’t be won in a day, or even a year, but if you start fighting now, you’ll feel all the better for it.