Although I’ve struggled with my personal mental health at many points in my life, I think I offer a distinct perspective on how to take care of your mental health when the mental state of others around you is unhealthy. In college, I had a boyfriend who suffered with severe suicidal thoughts, many of which he acted on often.

I think that taking care of someone and even supporting someone who’s experiencing distress and trauma can be extremely taxing to your physical and mental health. Dating someone who was suicidal was a real pivotal moment for me in which I learned a lot about …

have struggled and continue to struggle with anorexia and bulimia. I kept this a secret from my family and from people that I love dearly for five years. I finally received help when I mentioned to my mother, my freshmen year, that I might have body dysmorphic disorder…

I went through a period of time where I didn’t have a relationship with my dad. It lasted for a little over a year. There were multiple reasons for why our relationship fell apart- but mainly because he wasn’t taking care of his mental health. He was mixing prescription drugs and alcohol and treating my family with disrespect and causing constant distress. Not to mention on top of that he had extreme political views in support of a candidate I thought represented everything I loathed. After years of manic rages that would leave me shaken and shattered, one final rage set it off- I couldn’t take it anymore…

have suffered from anxiety since I was around ten years old. It used to manifest in different ways. I would get stomach pains that would keep me from school. I would cry every day. I wouldn’t sleep. I had an emotionally abusive adult-figure in my life that would reaffirm my worst fears about myself. He would tell me I was disappointing, a failure, and disgusting. All the thoughts that consumed my head everyday were being said straight to my face. This continued into my late teens, causing my sense of self-worth and love for myself to disappear…

This semester, my professor assigned the reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Dr. Brene Brown. In her book, Brown discusses how to live your life wholeheartedly. Brown explains the importance of courage and the importance of being vulnerable. Having courage, according to Brown, means telling your story from your heart. To open up to someone and to tell your story makes us vulnerable. As a society, we often shut down when we feel vulnerable because we are scared someone will judge us or our story. However, vulnerability requires strength and courage, and when you lean into vulnerability, I believe beautiful connections can be made. This is why I am telling my story. I hope that by being vulnerable, it encourages others to do so as well…

Although blame is often placed on society and culture, eating disorders are complex destructive forms of mental illness that manifest themselves in our self worth and image, and the detrimental effects they can have on the lives and relationships of those who suffer from them are very real. My story with my eating disorder begins as early as I can remember - I have vivid memories of sitting in my car seat and looking down at my thighs, hating the way they looked when they flattened out on the seat…

My story. Where to begin. Let’s start at the very beginning, when I was a little 8 year old girl consumed with playdates and fascinated with my new found love: swimming. I still have memories of carpooling with my best friend, giggling in the back seat, swimming for 2 hours, and then looking forward to do it all over again the next day. I loved swimming…

The other day I saw an Instagram post on body neutrality in comparison to body positivity. I thought this perspective was interesting because body positivity has been a huge movement on social media recently. To me, the idea of body neutrality seemed shocking and new. In life there is such an emphasis on good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, positive vs. negative. It was strange to think about taking a neutral stance on something, especially body image…