Ever since a young age, I've wanted to take my life and I've made myself sit through pain day in and day out. There was a time when I never not cried myself to sleep and filled my mind with depressing and negative thoughts. I felt like there was no one here for me and my anxiety never let me reach out for help, but I made sure I always appeared happy and fine! Being this person that was always happy and doing good in life I made tons of friends and had become that friend that everyone comes to when they needed someone to talk to and someone to listen to. I would be the friend they come to. Since this happened I thought I wouldn't open up because I wanted to be that friend for them. Going into high school I couldn't take it anymore and I blew up, and I had to get a therapist, this is when my goals started to form and I began to grow in ways I didn't think I would. Not knowing who I could reach out to everyday/night I started talking to God. I've danced for the church and went to church every now and then, but I've never truly had a relationship with God. I started praying and reading bible verses and writing what I think they meant everyday. I never thought I would take that step forward in building a relationship with God. I believe now that God has a plan for me. A plan that I needed to take steps forward to on my own. Since I was so distracted and couldn't focus I never thought about my future and what I wanted to do with my life. Working on my mental health shaped my future goals. I didn't really have anything going for me because I wouldn't have motivation to do anything, but I had volleyball, it was the only place I had peace. So therefore I focused my goals around this. I wanted a career in the athletic world. I decided if I go to college, which I had to, I would go for a kinesiology degree. Now I have my own person that I can go to when I need to, I've built a healthier environment for myself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I've been accomplishing my goals one by one, at this moment in time I'm in college I got my associates in high school and I'm on track to get my bachelors with a 4.0 gpa. I have better relationships with not just people, but with God and I am proud to say I understand now and I'm ready to see what my life has in store.

As someone who has had to deal with the struggle of poor mental health, I want to provide others with as much mental health care and support as I can in my future profession, or even with classes leading up to my profession. In my future profession I want to be a Physical Therapist. In this line of work people evaluate and record patients' progress. They handle helping injured or ill people, improve movement and manage pain. I have seen many people who are trying to recover from an injury doubt their abilities to improve or people feeling bad for themselves and talking down on themselves saying their worthless, and useless because they cannot provide for themselves in that process of trying to regain ability or just simply trying to get better. When I am in the field I would contribute to this problem by offering positive self-talk sessions or people who feel as if they are struggling with their mental because of their injury I will have classes for people who either need to know that they are not alone or if they just need to vent to someone, and have someone encourage them through the process. Having people who are in your situation that are improving to their original state can be motivation. I want to have an environment where not only is their body getting the treatment it needs, but the person as well is getting the attention they need for their mental health.