Mental health is something I have personally battled with during my first two years of attending college. When I went to college my entire life flipped upside down. I graduated high school with a great friend group, I was part of an equestrian team, and I was dating a guy that was very good for me. But when I moved away for college, I was alone in a brand new small town where there was nothing to do but drink alcohol. I quickly got involved in the wrong crowd and started to party almost every single night. After a year of this lifestyle, I begun to lose who I was. Eventually, I looked into the mirror and saw a girl I no longer knew. I had lost all hope in myself, and I fell into depression. I stopped going out to the bars with the "friends" I had. I started to seclude myself, and with secluding myself, I begun to skip meals. The anxiety of seeing people at the dining hall kept me hidden away in my dorm. I then quickly spiraled into an eating disorder, and my body became very frail. My mental health begun to affect me physically. I'm not proud of these years, but I can now understand the effect mental health can have on an individual. I started to see a counselor on campus, and I then discovered the root cause of my mental disorders. I grew up in a very broken household, and I bottled up all of the hurt I had for the duration of eighteen years. After leaving the toxic home I grew up in to attend college I begun to reach for any and everything to make me feel okay. I reached for alcohol; It was numbing the pain for a short period of time. It was an escape from the reality my parents were getting divorced. I was initially so unaware of the fact I needed help. I now know everyone needs help at some point. I understand bottling up past traumas will only make them worse. Trauma has to be addressed and worked through! I grasped a lot about mental health and the psychology of it during my last two years of college. I begun to heal, and was able to stop taking my medicine for depression. I also started to be intentional with eating. I would make myself sit down and eat even if it was forced. I then declared a major in Health and Community Wellness, minor in nutrition sciences, and begun working for a suicide and opioid prevention program at a local high school. I begun to help kids who were struggling with mental health, and I was able to empathize with them. My major taught me how to take metal health seriously, and it taught me how to take care of myself. I am so thankful for the people who poured into me, and my goal is to help the next generation!

If I could share one sentence with the world it would be the quote from C.S Lewis that states "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." In todays society, the traditional timelines still play a huge factor. We are to go to grade school, and from grade school we are expected to go directly into college whether you know what you want to do career wise or not. My family was very strict on this timeline. They pushed me into college directly after high school, and I didn't even have the time to figure out my life goals. I was young and dumb, and I had absolutely no idea what the world had to offer or where I was supposed to fit into it. I followed the path of "what was ideal" for my family, but ultimately ended up with a college degree I was not passionate about. It took me graduating college and working full time for a year to discover my true career dreams and goals of becoming a nurse. I was supposed to know what I wanted to do with my life at the age of 18, but it took me until the age of 24. Initially, I felt so defeated; the college degree I had just earned felt like a waste of time. I felt like going back to school as a newlywed and post graduate would be impossible. I had the traditional and false timelines of society in my head. I now know it is never too late to chase your dreams. I've just been readmitted into UWG to take prerequisites for an accelerated nursing Bachelor of Science which will be represented as a secondary Bachelors degree. You truly are never too old to chase your dreams.

What makes me happy is my daily gratitude journal. Every morning I wake up and write down what I am grateful for; I always begin with Jesus, my husband, and another day of life. Then, I begin to write down what I am grateful for that morning; I am grateful for coffee to wake my tired mind up, I am grateful we paid our power bill on time, and I am grateful for the warm weather, etc. I have learned by doing this simple practice I have become a very happy person. My goal when I started this was to make happiness unconditional. I strive to wakeup and be happy every single day despite the imperfect conditions surrounding me. It's become a practice of mind over matter. Essentially, yes, my friends, family, and job make me happy most of the time, however relying on these for my happiness can ultimately cause me disappointment. If I rely on sunshine for my happiness, I won't be happy on rainy days. I choose to look out my window on rainy days and be thankful for the water it is providing for every living organism. We are human, we don't wake up happy and cheery every single day. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is not something that should be conditional. I believe in doing the things that make you happy, but also choosing to see the good in the things that seem dreary.