It’s hard to cope with a mental Illness when you think nobody cares . It’s plenty of people in this world that have mental illnesses we might not know about . I’ve been going to therapy since I was in high school. They taught me that I can only live for the present and not the past. Going to group therapy taught me I am not alone. Many people of all ages have taught me different coping mechanisms that I still use. I cope by Going on walks or expressing myself through drawings . Honestly the walls don’t really work but I can always depend on my pencil and paper . Drawing is a way I express all my emotions . With my emotions on paper I can just throw them away and it makes me feel better . It won’t solve anything but throwing it away helps me throw away all the bad memories and emotions. My mental illness isn’t as important as a lot of peoples , but depression does cause a lot of damage for myself and others . Being depressed helped me realize life is more than being all sappy . I want to be able to grow up and help others. Being down and out all the time is when I started to realize school was for me . I enjoyed being around all the other students and teachers . They have taught me that happiness comes from how you mold your life into what you want it to be . Having certain goals changed the way I looked at life and my mental illness . Honestly my goals have changed over the years due to problems that have came up in my life . Going to school to get the career I want it still on my goal list . I want to be able to get a degree I can use to have a stable life . I want to be able to be a graphic designer and do what I love . Drawing has helped me through a lot especially through my first two years of school. I aspire to be whatever my degree helps me to be and hopefully it molds me to become a better person . In this economy having a degree is the only way to have a stable life due to inflation and all the government issues . I want to be able to survive and not depend on handouts .

“You do the crime , you do the time” is not what I wanted to hear in my 20s. Being incarcerated made my whole life turn upside down. Waiting on charges to disappear made me realize time is moving on . It is time for me to get my life on track. Going to jail in your 20s really changed your perspective about life . I went to school thinking it was all fun and games . Realizing that it’s more than drinking and going out with friends . I lost a lot of time being incarcerated and wish I could go back in time. Going back in time , where I had a plan. Plans to actually do something for myself . I did not plan on making my family worry and helpless. My mistakes have shown me it does not matter , everything has a consequence. Incarceration caused me to miss work, which made me lose both of my jobs . I had to take out loans to finish paying for lawyers and school. I ended up being depressed and dropping out of school. Leaving school was the worst decision I could have ever done . It made me lazy and incompetent. I realized after almost two years that I can do anything I put my mind to . I hope in the future I won’t be judged for what I have done in the past. When going to school I want to focus on the future . Hopefully everyone looking at my flaws will see that I made some mistakes and I’m trying to turn my life around . I want to make everyone around me proud . Being able to prove people wrong about what my career path will be. I need them to realize I take my future seriously and that nothing will stop me from succeeding.