Depression isn't just being sad. Anxiety isn't just being stressed. Obsessive-compulsive disorder isn't just being meticulous. Schizophrenia isn't just seeing things or being delusional.

Stop romanticizing mental illness.

Mental illness isn't beautiful. It's completely ugly-- it messes up the lives of those who have it and the people who care for them. The media and society keep projecting this illusion that mental illness is a mysterious, magical thing. This is done through misinforming images, television, and movies. The big picture is completely missing, and that is that nobody truly wants to understand mental illness for what it is. As a person who used to have anorexia and currently anxiety, it makes me upset that this is happening. I hate that part of myself, but it doesn't define me.

For those who also struggle with mental illness, you are resilient. You are not your condition. It's not your fault, or anyone else's. Unfortunately, we haven't begun to comprehend why mental illness exists. In this day and age, mental illness has a stigma and is taboo. I haven't actually talked about what happened to me years ago and what happens on a regular basis because it isn't socially acceptable to discuss mental illness. This should be changed. We should be able to talk about it and become educated to achieve a greater understanding.

One in four people (or 450 million people in the world) will be affected by a mental disorder at some point in their lives. When it happens, there is no way of being able to grasp what is happening inside our heads. Before I started showing symptoms of anxiety and anorexia, we talked mental health in school, but only briefly. We weren't given resources for coping or what to do about it. And when things were said, they just touched on the idea of mental illness. I wasn't taught how to help someone I know who could be struggling with mental illness or how to help myself. My parents couldn't wrap their minds around what was happening to me, and they had no idea where to start in terms of treatment. I suffered in silence with the constant support of family.

We need to be more open when it comes to mental illness. You don't know what could be going on until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes. It's not something that can be tucked away and saved for a rainy day. People shouldn't have to feel alone and closeted. We should be in the battle together; united. We need to speak up for those who can't or are afraid to.