For years, I’ve lived with the suffocating fear that a dreadful event would occur if I failed to complete specific compulsions. Tapping in a series of even numbers, walking according to invisible paths enforced by my brain, and other addictive activities consumed hours of my days. I was confused, frustrated, and astray within my mind, and I, with the encouragement of my friends and family, decided to seek therapy during my middle-school career. After being clinically diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, and participating in therapy sessions for the years following, my perception regarding myself and society shifted for the better. Therapy provided me with tools to process the thoughts and feelings that I could not fathom prior, and I was able to better understand my mental illnesses and what drove others to participate in similar behavior. As I talked to close friends regarding my mental health, I realized that I was not in the minority of society’s psychological spectrum: many others additionally experienced troubles with their mental health but, like me, were unsure how to navigate them. Along with therapy, my dad, having OCD and anxiety himself, aided me with my mental health journey by helping connect my internal conflicts to my outward show of compulsions that he and my family noticed. We also observed his OCD tendencies together, and he guided me through the compulsions and mental issues he linked together over the years during his own therapy sessions. I began to recognize patterns in behavior not only in myself but in others as well. From this, I trained my mind to replace its resistance with acceptance, and it was rewarding to view my progression as I absorbed what I learned inside the room dedicated to my therapy sessions and applied these teachings to the outside world. I no longer strictly complied with the fictional walkways I created for myself but instead began to traverse uninhibited, utilizing psychology techniques from my therapist such as journaling and breathing exercises to gradually regain my sense of mental and physical freedom. My tapping became an activity of the past; I was able to devote the energy previously sanctioned to that compulsion to concentrating on the present with grounding exercises that enabled me to recognize opportunities in every situation. With my newfound independence from OCD, I fell in love with psychology and recognized the subject as essential to genuinely connecting with individuals and living to honor my purest self. I was no longer perplexed but instead invigorated with the psychological knowledge I gained from therapy. I found my passion; I wanted to help others firmly grasp their mental well-being and aid in abolishing mental health’s negative stigma. To explore psychology as a future profession, I spoke to psychologists, discussing various academic and professional paths in-depth. I was excited to hear about the many possibilities of the psychology field and found that practically every topic within the field interested me. With this, I determined that I wanted to pursue a PhD in Psychology to obtain the field’s highest level of education to gain as much knowledge about psychology as possible. This decision and my eagerness to learn about the mind prompted me to enroll in UC Berkeley’s Summer Sessions’ Stress and Coping class in the summer of 2021. I deeply enjoyed the experience as I was taught lessons on engaging topics such as the hyper-egoic mindset, and I find myself revisiting the notes I took and slides my professor posted from time to time in order to retain the valuable information I received over that summer. I was also compelled to sign up for psychology classes in high school, and Psychology One and Transpersonal Psychology became my favorite courses throughout my K-12 experience. Each psychology learning experience in and out of the classroom has added to my love of the study. I am truly excited to enter college to expand upon my passion and dream of the day I am able to guide individuals on their mental health journey as a certified psychologist. Whether I begin a private practice as a therapist, educate others in academic institutions, or utilize social media platforms, I plan to normalize seeking mental help, advocate for those with psychological disorders and the mentally disabled, and bring awareness to the diversity of mental disorders. With time, I may be able to inspire others with psychology in the same way I was.