My name is Bryonna Schumacher. I am eighteen years old and live with my amazing mom and dad and my little brother. I also have a sister who is at college at UND becoming an eye doctor. I am going to graduate high school in spring of 2022, working very hard to achieve highest honors. My top choice for a college is MSUM and I am planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in either social work or criminal justice. I have conversion disorder, which means all my anxiety portrays itself as a physical and mental problem, rather than just mental, so I am going to continue to beat it and figure out easier ways to live with it. Having conversion disorder is a big reason why I want to become a therapist. I want to help people like me, before they get as bad as I got. I am hoping that I can focus mainly on college my freshman year and then in my sophomore year get a job. I am also hoping to start interning with a therapist to get the feel of being one. I want to start out working for a well-known therapy company but then hopefully one day make a name for myself and have my own clinic. I do want to get married and have kids but that will not come until for sure after college, probably a few years after that also. I am going to have tons of dogs (at least one for each kid), and am planning on doing foster care for kids and animals. I want to get into foster care because of “The Child Called It” series. I knew abuse cases happened, but that book really opened my eyes. I am hoping that if a kid or animal in that situation comes to me, I will be able to help them live the rest of their life to the best of their ability. Also, as silly as it sounds, Harry Potter changed my view. Harry had to live in a cupboard under the stairs after his parents were killed. When he is taken to the Weasley’ she sees for the first time what family should truly be like. I want to make sure that kids who are not wanted by their families do not end up neglected. I am hoping I can make an impact in this world through my career and my kindness. I do not want people to suffer if they do not have a reason to. I believe everyone deserves a second chance at life. Whether that means they did something wrong or they grew up in the wrong setting. I want to help them learn how to control their anger and other needs so they can go and make the world a better place.

My name is Bryonna Schumacher. I am 18 years old and love to read, play with my dogs, and write poetry. I am going to graduate high school in spring of 2022, working very hard to achieve highest honors. My top choice for a college is Minnesota State University Moorhead and I am planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in either social work or criminal justice. I have conversion disorder, which means all my anxiety portrays itself as a physical and mental problem, rather than just mental, so I am going to continue to beat that and figure out easier ways to live with it. Having conversion disorder is a big reason why I want to become a therapist. I want to help people like me, before they get as bad as I got. I am hoping that I can focus mainly on college my freshman year and then in my sophomore year get a job. I am also hoping to start interning with a therapist to get the feel of being one. I want to start out working for a therapy company but then hopefully one day make a name for myself and have my own clinic. I do want to get married and have kids but that will not come until for sure after college, probably a few years after that also. I am going to have tons of dogs (one for each kid), and am planning on doing foster care for kids and animals.

On August 25, 2021, my world got flipped upside down. I started having seizures every time I sat up and I started not being able to do things like speak, see, hear, walk, or control my actions at times. About a month later I was diagnosed with conversion disorder. Conversion disorder happens to people with severe anxiety and stress and/or PTSD. In my case it was severe anxiety and stress. Conversion disorder basically is your body's way of telling you that you are not dealing with your stress and anxiety so you need to start, therefore, all my stress and anxiety became a physical problem rather than just a mental one. I used to not really have any opinion on mental health. I mainly thought it was something only people in a mental hospital had to deal with, I didn’t realize almost every person has some type of mental health problem. Whether that mental health problem is just a touch of anxiety here or there or it is bad enough for you to end up in a mental hospital. Being diagnosed with conversion disorder completely opened my eyes and changed my belief. I could no longer do normal everyday things. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom on my own because I might have a seizure while I was in there and fall and hit my head. All my dreams of going to college and becoming a homicide detective flew out the window. Or so I thought. After trying what felt like a million different meds, we finally found one that helps lessen my anxiety and stress. We also got me into counseling and that worked wonders! Counseling is where I realized that my dreams of becoming a homicide detective kind of did fly out the window that day. Because of conversion disorder sending me to therapy, I realized I wanted to become a therapist and help people who are like me, and hopefully help them before they get as bad as I got. This so-called disease also turned out to help my family. I got to be closer than ever with my parents, especially my mom, because we had to spend basically every minute together because I was a danger to myself when I had a seizure or wasn’t able to see. Also, before this all started, I couldn’t talk to my brother without fighting about something with him. Now he is my rock and I can count on him for anything. We very rarely argue any more and if we do it’s over something silly that we end up laughing about. I have become a major supporter of getting the word out about mental health. When I first went back to school, my class treated me like I was made of glass. However, I just continued to act like my way-too-weird-to-be-normal self and told people that I’m the same person, only I like to have random “dance parties” and copy what you say sometimes. I also share mental health awareness posts whenever I see them on social media. My teachers have also asked me to talk to a couple of my classes and share my experience with them, so they are more aware of what is going on and that I am the same me, only with a bit more pizzazz. I am planning on continuing sharing as much as I can about mental health as possible, and am glad this happened to me so I can spread the word about what mental health truly is. Even though it is tough at time, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life.

I am going to graduate high school in spring of 2022, working very hard to achieve highest honors. My top choice for a college is MSUM and I am planning on majoring in psychology with a minor in either social work or criminal justice. I have conversion disorder, which means all my anxiety portrays itself as a physical and mental problem, rather than just mental, so I am going to continue to beat that and figure out easier ways to live with it. Having conversion disorder is a big reason why I want to become a therapist. I want to help people like me, before they get as bad as I got. I am hoping that I can focus mainly on college my freshman year and then in my sophomore year get a job. I am also hoping to start interning with a therapist to get the feel of being one. I want to start out working for a therapy company but then hopefully one day make a name for myself and have my own clinic. I do want to get married and have kids but that will not come until for sure after college, probably a few years after that also. I am going to have tons of dogs (one for each kid), and am planning on doing foster care for kids and animals.

What is joy? The definition for joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. However, to me joy is sitting at the kitchen table, having supper with your family, and hearing about how their day went. Joy is when you are feeling blue and your mom notices, so she gives you a hug to cheer you up. To me, joy is not a feeling of pleasure, it is a feeling of comfort. The feeling when you come home from a tough day at school or work and your dad tells you a semi-inappropriate joke. Or when your dogs run up to you and they roll over right away to get their belly scratched. Joy is more than words can describe. I usually do not have to seek out joy in my life because of my amazing family, but when I do need a little pick-me-up I pull out a good book and wrap up in a cozy blanket with hot chocolate and my dogs. If you truly have a good life, you should not have to seek out joy. Joy should find you in the people around you.

On August 25, 2021, I had to face my hardest challenge yet. I was diagnosed with conversion disorder. Conversion disorder makes all your stress and anxiety become a physical problem, not just a mental one. At the start, I had seizures within ten seconds every time I was vertical. I had times where I could not walk, talk, see, hear, and control what I did or said. I had to miss two months of my senior year. However, not only did I get completely caught up in school, I also worked super hard and found little tricks around my problems. For example, this week I am celebrating going a full week without having a seizure. I can now feel when I am about to have one and most of the time stop it. Also, I figured out that if I am having trouble walking, I simply have to turn around and walk backwards. I go from using the logical side of my brain to the creative side. We found out that whenever I use the creative side of my brain, I have very little problems. I also had to get over the fear of “what are my classmates going to think of me?” I just had to push through the fear and learned that my classmates didn’t care. They were all there to help me, not hurt me. Another thing, when I first started going back to school, I could only make it one class period before needing a nap because I got tired so fast. I can now make it the whole school day, and most of the time do not even need a nap after school.

On August 25, 2021, my world got flipped upside down. I started having seizures every time I sat up and started not being able to do things like speak, see, hear, walk, or control my actions at times. About a month later I was diagnosed with conversion disorder. Conversion disorder happens to people with severe anxiety and stress and/or PTSD. In my case it was severe anxiety and stress. Conversion disorder basically is your body's way of telling you that you are not dealing with your stress and anxiety so you need to start, therefore, all my stress and anxiety became a physical problem rather than just a mental one. I used to not really have any opinion on mental health. I mainly thought it was something only people in a mental hospital had to deal with, I didn’t realize almost every person has some type of mental health problem. Whether that mental health problem is just a touch of anxiety here or there or it is bad enough for you to end up in a mental hospital. Being diagnosed with conversion disorder completely opened my eyes and changed my belief. I could no longer do normal everyday things. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom on my own because I might have a seizure while I was in there and fall and hit my head. All my dreams of going to college and becoming a homicide detective flew out the window. Or so I thought. After trying what felt like a million different meds, we finally found one that helps lessen my anxiety and stress. We also got me into counseling and that worked wonders! Counseling is where I realized that my dreams of becoming a homicide detective kind of did fly out the window that day. Because of conversion disorder sending me to therapy, I realized I wanted to become a therapist and help people who are like me, and hopefully help them before they get as bad as I got. This so-called disease also turned out to help my family. I got to be closer than ever with my parents, especially my mom, because we had to spend basically every minute together because I was a danger to myself when I had a seizure or wasn’t able to see. Also, before this all started, I couldn’t talk to my brother without fighting about something with him. Now he is my rock and I can count on him for anything. We very rarely argue any more and if we do it’s over something silly that we end up laughing about. I have become a major supporter of getting the word out about mental health. When I first went back to school, my class treated me like I was made of glass. However, I just continued to act like my way-too-weird-to-be-normal self and told people that I’m the same person, only I like to have random “dance parties” and copy what they say sometimes. I also share mental health awareness posts whenever I see them on social media. My teachers have also asked me to talk to a couple of my classes and share my experience with them, so they are more aware of what is going on and that I am the same me, only with a bit more pizzazz. I am planning on continuing sharing as much as I can about mental health as possible, and am glad this happened to me so I can spread the word about what mental health truly is.