Sarah Hollis

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77

My journey with anxiety and depression has taught me a lot of different things. These things have one specific theme: enjoy the present moment. For the past six years, this is something I haven’t done well. I still don’t do it well today. My anxiety and depression do everything they can to make sure my present moments are filled with nothing but worry and sadness. My depression keeps me rooted in the past. It makes me think about what I could have done better in past situations I’ve been in. When I get in an argument with someone, I think about how everything that went wrong was my fault. That makes me think less and less of myself until I have very little self-worth. My depression tells me I don’t deserve to live in happiness because I have done so many things wrong in my past. In the depths of my mind, I know that I don’t deserve to dwell in the past. I really do deserve all the happiness that I can find. That’s what mental illness does— it attacks me in the places that it knows it can get to me. It wants to take away any peace and happiness I have. Every single day is a fight to make sure that positivity and good emotions win, but some days, the negativity wins. My anxiety wants to keep me rooted in the future. Don’t get me wrong, thinking about the future is an important thing to do. But for me, thinking about it consumes my thoughts every day and night and I feel like there is no right decision to make. Recently, I got a job and an apartment — total big girl steps for me! Most people would be ecstatic, which I was at first. Then my anxiety began to take over. What if this isn’t where I’m supposed to be? What if my coworkers hate me? What if I do a bad job? These questions consumed my thoughts for at least three weeks before I started my job. I wouldn’t sleep at night because of it. Everything is great now that I’m working — all my fears were for nothing. However, there is always something to worry about in my mind. Living in the present is something that is so hard for me to do because of my mental illnesses. It’s not impossible, but it is difficult. I have to find something unique about every day and set myself in that; like the other day when I went to lunch with my new coworkers for the first time — it was so great! The present is something that I think we sometimes take for granted and it might be especially difficult for those who suffer from anxiety and depression. I think we have to take time and enjoy where we are. If we’re not satisfied with where we are, how are we going to be happy with where we’re going? We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via NataliaDeriabina

Mental illness is extremely tough — both struggling through it yourself, to having a loved one who is struggling with it. I have been on both sides of the coin. Currently, I am dealing with anxiety and depression. I have dealt with it for the past six years, and every single day is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s a blessing because I get to live my life with all the amazing people I know and love; a curse because my mental illness creeps in on me in every aspect of my life. With my anxiety and depression, there is one lingering, evil thought I have every single day: I am a burden to others. One of my greatest strengths, as well as my greatest weakness, is that I live to please other people — so much in fact that I forget to take care of myself. Because of that, my anxiety and consequently depression are at all new highs. Something I have learned through all of this is that I need to talk about what I am going through. I believe keeping things inside is the worst possible thing anyone struggling with mental illness can do. You begin to isolate yourself from the world because you feel like nobody can possibly understand what you are going through. You stop reaching out to people because you believe you are going to bring them down with you. Well, guess what? You’re not going to. Let me make something very clear: you are not a burden . I know that is easier to read than to believe; trust me, I do. I am struggling with this very concept right now. It is so hard for me to reach out to my loved ones because I don’t want to interfere with their happiness and well-being. If the people you decide to reach out to really care about you, they will stick with you. If they turn away, then that is their problem. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to bring you up and listen to you in your most desperate times of need. Something my loved ones have reiterated to me repeatedly is that I am not doing any of these things, and hopefully, your trusted people will tell you the same exact thing. If you are experiencing any kind of mental illness, I want to encourage you to keep going and keep talking through it. That is so much easier said than done, I know, but you must take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life. If you’re not good for yourself, how can you be good for anyone else? If you keep everything in and are afraid you’re going to be a burden to everyone else, you’re not going to get any better. So, go out and don’t be afraid to share your feelings. They are important, and you are so worth listening to. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here . Thinkstock photo via pecaphoto77