Hillary’s Story

I wake up every morning wondering what today will bring but I wake up glad to be waking up.  I live with sever anxiety disorder, bipolar type 2, PTSD and self-injury.  I was first diagnosed with depression and anxiety my senior year of high school and went away to college where I dealt with a tragic situation.  I have come so far since November of 2001 that I want to let everyone know that you can make it through anything.  I know that everything I have been through (hospitalization, outpatient programs, different medication and going through doctors till I found the right one) is for a reason and I want to share what I can about my life so that people are not afraid to get help or be afraid of someone who lives with a mental illness.  I tell my therapist I want to do something to help people who are living with a mental illness and those around them because it’s the lack of understanding of mental illness that causes this huge stigma.  I am very open to the people around me but my parents do not talk about it, they just sent me to doctors and I had to learn how to live with a mental illness without a support system and that is something I want no one else to have to go through.  I learned to be my own support system when I was first diagnosed and I want to do something so that no one has to go through this alone. I know I have come so far since 2001, (graduated from college, got a full time job, starting to date, moved out on my own) and I want to share with everyone that the world is ours and we should not be afraid to be who we truly are.  Speaking up is the hardest thing but if we can all help one person we can stop this stigma.