Why My Freedom Is Important as a Student With Depression

As a 19-year-old woman with multiple mental illnesses who happens to also be enrolled in a university, I often find myself wondering about the best ways to cope with everything. I purposely chose a university four and a half hours from the majority of my family; I don’t have the best relationship with my parents. But lately, something new has come into my life: the freedom to choose.

I can choose who to talk to, who not to and how best to cope. I can choose where I want to go on breaks from school, and right now I’m trying to decide where to go for the summer. As I said, I don’t have the best relationship with my parents; I get very stressed and my anxiety and depression go through the roof when I’m in their house.

In high school, I discovered a love for poetry. Not analyzing it as we would in my English classes, but writing it and just reading it. I started to write my own poems to help me get out my thoughts and feelings, and I kept them private for a long time. But in May of my senior year, I discovered Mirakee, an app (and website) where I can publish my poems freely and I won’t be judged. It lets me share my talent with the world.

I guess, as a student, I’d say my way to cope with everything is by just knowing no one else can control me or tell me what I can and cannot do anymore. I have the freedom to do what I want and be who I want. So, I write poetry and listen to music; I meditate and I isolate; I talk to people and I listen to them, too. It all depends on what works for everyone and finding what that is. It’s a journey. I found mine, so now it’s someone else’s turn to find theirs.