Yes, I know what you are thinking, another anxiety article.

However, I don't care.

It's time for women, and men, to start to stand up and speak about mental illness and how it effects them on a daily basis, because people like this exist. They exist in the mall, they exist in the park, they exist in your school, and more importantly they may exist within you.

Mental illness has always been something to view as a taboo topic. Something people won't talk about or refuse all together, but thats scarier than the actual disease itself.

Mental illness to me is something that you can rather choose to let it destroy you or allow it make you stronger, because at the end of the day I've been in that dark corner of doubt and despair, but if you choose to pick yourself up and walk away from that corner, you may find that next to it lies a hidden strength you never knew was so close.

I was born with my anxiety, and in fact I have a disorder that is greater than the average anxiety causing me to have not only psychological issues, but physical ones as well. I have a heart murmur that my anxiety has caused me, although not life threatening luckily enough, migraines that make the expression, "pounding like a drum" all too real, and panic attacks that hit me during the worst of times. However, as I have gotten older I realize this is ok. I realize that not only is this a part of me, but it may actually be one of the best parts of me.

Thanks to my anxiety, and after a lengthy battle of denial, I decided to say, "Screw it!" If this is something I have to live with, then I am going to make the best of it. I will speak for those who are scared to have a voice, I will stand up for those debilitated by the fear of panic, and I will smile because I know I, and others, are stronger than what we may characterize as our greatest weakness.

While my anxiety may have its occasional downsides by making me appear needy, scared, or otherwise weak, as I am sure many of you have felt at times, that is not the case by a long shot I assure you.

My anxiety has made me stronger by showing me I care more than some because I need to carefully plan things out and make sure what I am doing will put a smile on someone's face that day. I see that I love more because I am genuinely impacted by what happens to my significant other and will drop whatever is going on to comfort them because I know the dark feelings all too well and having them happy means more to me than some may know. My anxiety shows me I am strong in general because I face each and every day with a smile and grace that is one big middle finger to the anxiety monster that resides in my head.

And this can be, or is, you too!

And to those still not convinced they can be strong too and turn this into a positive, just know I've been there and you are doing better than you think. Just by getting up each and every day and reminding yourself of how strong you truly are and those around you who love you for it makes all the difference.

In a world so full of darkness, don't let the anxiety monster win another one. Show it, and the world, that being you matters, that because you have a mental illness of any kind doesn't define who you truly are, and that you have impacted the world with your style and grace. We as a society should not be scared to stand up and scream, "I have a mental illness, but guess what...I'm stronger than it."

Because guess what...you are.