“Those that struggle the most often are the strongest in the end.”

Share your stigma experience.

I have had anxiety most of my life it gets better and worse like a rollercoaster. I actually believe it comes from being diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. I was raised to believe you keep your problems to yourself and that if you take medication you’ll never learn to deal with it on your own. I do believe that to an extent but also believe that to overcome or at least learn how to manage mental illnesses and be happy with who you are you need help and that everyone is different, is effected differently, handles it differently and needs different solutions to get to the point where they happy with their progress. Even though my father was the one against sharing or medication he was also the one who helped me to overcome it the best. I can honestly say for years I had no issues even the ADHD I had no problems. Looking back I was a young single mother with two small children, worked and went to college full time and was raising my brother who is 10 years younger than me(different dads). My mother is negative and puts me down, “I’m always doing it wrong, nothing is good enough”, she is judgemental, makes assumptions and gossips, can be very rude and says hurtful things. Majority of my life I’ve tried to keep her at a distance because she tends to make things worse but my father could turn it all around not just for me but he could give anyone confidence, make them have high self-esteem, motivate them and give them strength. He was creative coming up with ways to help my aunt through her depression and getting her clean, helping me with my issues and also teaching me to be a lot like him in that way. I don’t always look at it as a bad thing, I handle pressure & chaos better than most, I thrive on being in control when life is that way. I lost my father 10 years ago now but was thriving, I had another child was still working and going to college and in a good relationship. It’s hard but with the right help which is different for everyone you can find your own paradise, mine is controlled chaos.

How did you overcome this experience?

I take it one experience at a time, I remind myself that I’m doing the best I can and that I’m human so it’s okay to fall. It’s okay to make mistakes, that’s how I learn and as long as I get back up that’s all that matters. I try to remember I don’t have to do it completely on my own, it’s ok to let someone help you up and I also try to put distance between the ones that push me down even if I love them because it’s not healthy and that’s their fault not mine.

Help others by sharing a brief, positive message.

Not always does it have to be looked at as stigma, sometimes if used the right way it can be a benefit. You can learn something from it and knowledge is power. If you survived something you become a survivor. Those that struggle the most often are the strongest in the end.