A few years ago I was diagnosed with anxiety. Although it seems so far away now, I still remember the darkness I felt shrouded in. Although it felt like it at the time, it's important to know that mental illnesses are not definitions of who you are by any means. You are not the symptoms or what the disease subjects you to. You are the strength and the "you-ness" that rises in spite of the illness.

Eventually, knowing that I had an anxiety disorder allowed me to find research and seek out people who could offer assistance and guide me. With the stigma of mental illness prominent in everyday society, we need more than ever, to understand that no one is alone in this world and we all feel the same emotions at the end of the day.

Don't allow a malfunction of chemical production in your brain stop you from living the life you want to live.

The important thing to understand is that mental illnesses are manageable and you are never confined to the mental state that you find yourself in. Much like life in itself, mental illness is ever changing and there is no set way to go about it.

Never bash someone for wishing for medications, therapy or other services in order to manage mental illnesses.

You are not weak for taking medication or needing help handling your emotions. It is important that whatever you are doing or not doing, you are alive and managing the stressors of your mental illness and everyday life. It is important to take these little victories in order to encourage yourself to keep going.

With anxiety, the panic attacks can render you helpless but it is important to understand that you are not helpless. This will come to an end and you will survive this.

I thought that I felt emotions too deeply until I fell in love with how human that made me.

Although the stress and the difficulties of mental illnesses can seem insurmountable, your issues are just as important as anyone else's. Everyone is going through their own struggles and everyone has a right to feel that their needs are important and worthy.

I have heard a lot of people saying that their mental illness and the problems that it causes doesn't matter because "people are starving in Africa" and other statements. The simple fact is that you are not starving in Africa and you cannot relate to those experiences. All that statements like that do is work to create a barrier between yourself and help.

Everyone is deserving of support no matter what challenges they are working to overcome.

No matter what you are going through, know that there is always the hope of a better tomorrow. Tomorrow you could find a support group. Tomorrow you could find a medication or a therapist that really helps. Tomorrow could hold a new hobby or a passion in the workings.

The only way you can find yourself mentally stagnant without hope of improvement is to take away that promise of tomorrow.

My advice is that no matter what, never let the light of hope for tomorrow fade. Keep moving forward.