When you suffer from anxiety and depression, it can seem as if the world is ending. You feel helpless and defeated, blocking everyone out around you. I have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from the tender age of 14 which led up to my anxiety and feeling like every bad situation will never get better. Some days it's easier to get out of bed and be social, but other days it's an absolute freak show and hard to do even the simplest task. The days I can't function properly, it reflects on the people around me. Little did I know only I can control these emotions.

If you suffer from similar difficulties it is important to keep a few things in mind:

1. It is OK to not be OK.

I have good days, I have bad days, and I have okay days. Sometimes I feel like I can be the life of the party and other days I feel like I don't want to have my attitude affect the feelings of others. Just because you aren't feeling too great one day, or are feeling depressed, doesn't mean you are depressed. If you are dealing with something such as an internal battle, it's okay to not be okay.

2. It isn’t OK to take it out on the people around you.

I am guilty of doing this to the people I care about the most. It is NOT okay to make the people around you feel like they aren't helping you. If you are having a bad day, don't make anyone else feel bad with you. Misery loves company should not be a motto to live by.

3. Don't sit inside all day and dwell on life.

Yet again, I am guilty of doing this. In the past, I would blow friends off, boyfriends, family members and even ditching my classes. After a good chunk of my high school social life, I decided to befriend a group of girls who would help me get out of my shell. If you can even just go out for one day, you will see it's not so bad on the other side.

4. You make your own fate.

Mental illness is something very serious. It's very common in 2017 and is a sensitive subject, It doesn't define you as a person. Somebody once told me only you can control your feelings and reactions, and boy was he right. After I learned how to control my emotions, I saw the world in a brighter vision. I realized not everything is bad and I have so much to look forward too.

If you think just because you have a mental illness, or you have issues going on in your life that it won't get better, your wrong. It will get better if you make it better. Every moment needs to count and the saying is true, "You only live once". When you're 56 years old you're going to want to look back and say, I really made a great life for myself. In order to do so, you need to fake it until you make it, which I was once told my high school guidance consoler. It really did help me, as this is the best place I have been in, in over 6 years. You create your own happiness.