Life never stops happening. It is one thing after another. I've never related to that more until I graduated from high school. I have PTSD from an abusive relationship. I fight every day to get out of bed with a rare genetic disorder that is taking away my freedom. Needless to say, I struggle every minute of every day. 12-year-olds shouldn’t idolize leg braces because it might help get them out of pain. Living in pain for 9+ years every day takes a toll on anyone. I struggle, I go to therapy, and will probably be on meds for the rest of my life. Something that my mental health has given me in life is my passion to help get people out of pain. Give others a better quality of life. That’s why I want to build and design prosthetic limbs. My mental and physical health has made me more compassionate and wise in a few ways. I was voted most likely to be a motivational speaker in high school. I believe it speaks to my ability to empathize and connect with people going through a dark time in their lives. Who feels that life is too much to handle in that given moment. I’m not saying I’ve been there, and done that, to minimize what another person is going through. I’m saying let me crawl into that dark hole with you so you’re not alone. Sure I could have gone without quite a few traumatic events in my life but they happened. I sit with every one of them often. I have to otherwise I’d be numb but without them and my mental health I would be a different person. I wouldn’t know what I want to be when I grow up, I wouldn’t be able to crawl into that dark hole and sit with people at their lowest. As life keeps on happening I gain more tools to help me survive what’s to come and have compassion within to feel it. Without the internal fight I’ve had with my mental health I wouldn’t be who I am today.