Being financially independent is everyone's dream for the future, but sometimes those pressures to make money and be successful can cause anxiety and depression in people. One of the most important personal finance lessons I've learned is to not let money stop you from living because money cannot buy happiness. With me being in college and having to pay certain bills such as rent, gas, and groceries my work-life balance can be hard to maintain. I used to go to school, go to work, go home, do homework, and then repeat, but I realized that if I continued I'd become burnt out of those activities. Now I write down my finances for the month and their due dates to be able to visually see what I need to plan for and how much I'll need to work to be able to get the amount I need. Within the planning of my work and school days I include "lazy day." Lazy days are the days I can sit at the house or go out with friends without worrying about going to work or doing homework. Having a healthy work-life balance is one of the most important financial lessons, because balancing work, school, and life isn't always fun and if you don't give yourself the time to relax and take care of yourself and your mental health you'll become burnt out and your motivation will slowly decline and start effecting you happiness for working and your willingness to work. Although some people may try the get it done fast and relax afterward route, they won't be able to fully enjoy life throughout the years. Life at 20 versus 30 will always be different no matter the amount of money someone has. A healthy work-life balance is an important financial lesson.

Depression and anxiety have been two mental ailments that I have struggled with in recent years. With the pandemic happening and my senior year of high school being abruptly ended, I developed severe anxiety which was soon accompanied by depression. Getting through it was hard. If my mother and my best friend hadn't been there I don't know where I would be. Whenever things got too hard I could come to them for a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear. Neither my mother nor my best friend invalidated my feelings and they made me feel okay to not be okay. After going through both anxiety and depression it pushed me to pursue a career in psychology to be able to help others who've been in my shoes but don't have a support system to get them through it. Sometimes all people need is someone to talk to and I plan on being that for others. My journey through mental illness also inspired me to find better alternatives to medicine when trying to counteract the effects of mental illnesses. My plan is to get my doctorate degree and become a Psychiatrist and open up my own practice that focuses more on the patient and not the symptoms. Many people get dependent on the plethora of medicines given to help mental illness. My plan is to teach my patients better coping mechanisms and find herbs to help with their symptoms of mental illness. Using herbs like lavender, camomile, and ashwagandha can help calm anxiety without needing a prescription. Mental illness is not a disease. It needs to be more openly talked about without immediately prescribing medicine. Teaching coping mechanisms, learning the root of the problem and fixing it, and giving patients less addicting medicines is what psychology should be about and I plan on changing the precedent and letting people know that not being okay is okay. I want to support my dreams through another avenue of income so that anybody can come to me without paying high prices. I plan on learning how to make consistent money from the stock market so that psychiatry can be my secondary source of income. When I start making money from the stock market, it will become my primary source of income and will be used to fuel my dreams. If I can I will make my practice non-profit in order to give people more financially suitable mental health options. Psychology has changed my life by giving me a passion to help others who can't always help themselves and opened my eyes to the need for honest psychiatrists who only have your success in mind and not their paycheck.