Breathe.

From a young age (and I mean young) you are told to breathe when anything happens. Are you hurt? Are you scared? Are you excited? Are you mad? Are you upset? Are you shocked?

Breathe.

Yep. That is it. Breathe.

Now I know, it seems stupid. But when everything else might be falling down around you, breathing may be the only thing left to keep you sane. I am not one to spill my guts, share my struggles, or share much for that matter, on the internet. The internet is awesome, but is that really where I want my feelings blasted? Although I am not one to do those things, that is what I am going to be sharing now.

I remember going through my first ever "heartbreak" when I was about fourteen. My mom was there to tell me that I was young, there was time, boys were immature and did not deserve me. At the time, these words were not comforting.

These words hurt me. That relationship was all I cared about (I know, stupid). But when nothing else helped between the hugs and the words, one word jumped out and hit me. Breathe.

If you don't quit crying how are you going to breathe? When you go to school and see that by who hurt you how are you going to not cry? Breathe. I mean, it was the answer to everything. Breathe.

In high school when the world seemed to be against me, I felt like I had nothing. Being a seventeen year old in high school with no real friends is hard. I lost a friend that had been there for years, I was poked at by girls who had nothing better to do, and I felt confused about why I was even trying to fit in anymore.

Sure, I had some fun times. I was blessed with some teachers that would go above and beyond to make sure I would succeed (especially in math). I got to be president of my class and work with an awesome teacher who wasn't afraid to tell anyone how it really was. I was able to create friendships with people I had some classes with.

Despite those good things, what did I have outside of that? The girl who poked at me all the time over nothing? A lost friendship? I wish I could tell you how many times I cried at night wishing I could just graduate and leave all those things behind. But until graduation day came, I had the sit back and more importantly, I had to breathe.

Since I have poured some raw feelings out for anyone to see, let me tell the significance of this seven letter word. When I finally picked my little fourteen-year-old self up from that heartbreak, I took a deep breath and moved on my merry way. When I needed that lost friend the most, she was there, she told me to breathe.

When I cried over getting poked at during school, my aunt held me and told me to breathe. When I felt lost, confused, defeated, anything for that matter, my mom looked me right in the eyes and you know what she told me?

Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.

Now you might still be confused about why this word means so much. As someone who has developed anxiety over the years and continues to struggle with it, I depend on this word. This word gets me through fights with friends, bad days, hard exams, anything. It can even help with silly small things like walking in the cold weather. So the next time you feel a moment of stress, panic, excitement, whatever it may be, I hope you remember to breathe.