There are many songs that I listen to, but one song that I believe has the most meaning is "Dear God" by Dax. The song starts with Dax saying "I just want to make this clear, I am a believer. But sometimes, it gets hard. My Name is Dax. Dear God." Dax then follows this up by asking god every question he has about religion. Why everything about him is a debate, why every conversation ends in division, why do I hurt, why is there pain, why does everything good always have to change? He asks all the questions that are typically asked about religion that come from doubt. At the end of the song he says "Dear God, I don't want to have to ask you again, I just hope that you know, that I'm still a believer, so, I'll end this all by saying Amen." The message behind this song is that no matter how many questions he has about religion and no matter how much doubt he has he still has faith in his religion.

About halfway through my 8th-grade year, my geometry teacher took his own life four years ago. My dad, another math teacher at my school, was very close friends with him and his death shook him to his core. My dad knew he had been struggling with these mental health battles for a long time, but he never expected him to end his life. Before his passing, I had begun to struggle with some mental health issues like depression and anxiety in 7th grade. The next day we went to school and the entire school felt empty like all the energy had been taken out of the building. After this event, my mental health issues became slightly worse and the problems continued to grow over the next couple of years. Despite the problem getting worse, I continued to try to push those feelings down and act as if everything was alright. However, after about 3 years of pushing down these feelings, the problem became too much for me to handle. In the summer following my 10th-grade year, I experienced a 2-month-long mental health episode where the thought of ending my life became a very real possibility. I would think about ending my life every day, sometimes multiple times a day, for those two months and I didn't have a reason why. I had everything I could ever want. A car, a nice home, a loving family, and good friends, but for whatever reason, I didn't think that I deserved to have a life. After a while, my mom began to notice that my happiness was no longer what it used to be. She came down to my room to talk to me and after a while of pushing me to tell her what was wrong, I finally told her everything that had been going on in my head over the past couple of years. Following that conversation, my mom got me set up with a therapist so that I could talk to someone and try to get better. At first, it was slow. I didn't know I could tell him everything and I felt like my problems weren't as bad as others so I felt like I was wasting his time. However, after a while, I began to talk to him more openly and my problems started to become less like problems and more like obstacles in my life. I am now happy to say that I very rarely have these times of anxiety and depression and I seldom have the thought of ending my own life. I know that I am not the only person who struggles with mental health issues. Many people suffer from anxiety and depression and I think that the best way to cope with those issues is through exercise. Exercising daily and staying in good shape tremendously helped my mental health issues and I believe that it would help many others as well. Because of this, I want to become a physical education teacher at the high school level so that I inspire kids in high school who have mental health issues to go out and exercise. I would also like to be a teacher that any of the kids can come and talk to if they need to so that they know they are not alone.

About halfway through my 8th-grade year, my geometry teacher took his own life four years ago. My dad, another math teacher at my school, was very close friends with him and his death shook him to his core. My dad knew he had been struggling with these mental health battles for a long time, but he never expected him to end his life. Before his passing, I had begun to struggle with some mental health issues like depression and anxiety in 7th grade. The next day we went to school and the entire school felt empty like all the energy had been taken out of the building. After this event, my mental health issues became slightly worse and the problems continued to grow over the next couple of years. Despite the problem getting worse, I continued to try to push those feelings down and act as if everything was alright. However, after about 3 years of pushing down these feelings, the problem became too much for me to handle. In the summer following my 10th-grade year, I experienced a 2-month-long mental health episode where the thought of ending my life became a very real possibility. I would think about ending my life every day, sometimes multiple times a day, for those two months and I didn't have a reason why. I had everything I could ever want. A car, a nice home, a loving family, and good friends, but for whatever reason, I didn't think that I deserved to have a life. After a while, my mom began to notice that my happiness was no longer what it used to be. She came down to my room to talk to me and after a while of pushing me to tell her what was wrong, I finally told her everything that had been going on in my head over the past couple of years. Following that conversation, my mom got me set up with a therapist so that I could talk to someone and try to get better. At first, it was slow. I didn't know I could tell him everything and I felt like my problems weren't as bad as others so I felt like I was wasting his time. However, after a while, I began to talk to him more openly and my problems started to become less like problems and more like obstacles in my life. I am now happy to say that I very rarely have these times of anxiety and depression and I seldom have the thought of ending my own life. I know that I am not the only person who struggles with mental health issues. Many people suffer from anxiety and depression and I think that the best way to cope with those issues is through exercise. Exercising daily and staying in good shape tremendously helped my mental health issues and I believe that it would help many others as well. Because of this, I want to become a physical education teacher at the high school level so that I inspire kids in high school who have mental health issues to go out and exercise. I would also like to be a teacher that any of the kids can come and talk to if they need to so that they know they are not alone.