‘How are you even tired? You haven’t done anything all day!”

“Just get it over it, you’re overthinking it.”

“Just get out there, you are in your head too much.”

“Just go to sleep earlier”

These are examples of some of the things you hear when you have a mental illness because no one believes it's real, simply due to the fact that they cannot see any physical symptoms to prove it.

Depression is not you being ungrateful for the food on the table and the roof over your head.

Anxiety is not you just overthinking too much and not interacting enough.

Bulimia and anorexia are not eating habits that you have because you are too lazy to actually lose weight the healthy way.

Insomnia is you staring at your ceiling at four in the morning and not being able to bring yourself to drift off into sleep even though your eyes are burning.

The list goes on and on and on. Mental illness is as real as the moment you are taking to read this sentence right now. Just like you get headaches, or your leg hurts, or your stomach is acting up your brain gets sick as well. Mental Illness is your brain being physically and psychologically ill in a sense that your brain is not producing enough chemicals for you to carry out a healthy lifestyle.

It is the shortcomings of your brain that are causing these mental illnesses, that are causing these struggles and people have to overcome them on a daily basis, a struggle as simple as getting out of bed in the morning because that can be the hardest thing in the world sometimes. Living with depression is draining; not finding joy in the things you once loved, not having the will to live even though you have everything to live for, feeling like your body is gasping for air meanwhile nobody notices.

Anxiety is being on constant alert of everything in your environment and over-analyzing your ever move. The and the slightest change in someone’s voice tone sends fear rushing through you because you’re afraid that person is mad at you.

Bulimia is a face covered in vomit and bloody nose because your brain is telling you that you did not deserve to eat. Anorexia is a bony malnourished body with hair growing over it.

Living with a Mental Illness is emotionally and physically draining. Your mind is constantly on over-drive, your mental illness is taking over all logic in your brain. Mental Illnesses are a slow, soul-crushing realities that eat you from the inside.

This is only some of the things that people with mental illnesses have to go through. So I write to you, to tell you to please respect everyone around you. Just because you do not see physical symptoms does not mean they are not going through something internally, and alone. Each of us have our own battles, so be kind to one another.