Have you ever gone through something and felt alone? Like no one understood how you felt? So have I, and in my experience, I learned that no matter what, you're not alone. There's someone out there that has or is going through it too.


Back in sixth grade, I lost one of my best friends in a sledding accident. As soon as that happened, I lost everything. I became so depressed. I felt like I had no reason to live anymore. I acted like everything was fine at school, but as soon as I would come home; I would run in my room, shut the door and cry. Sometimes I would even try committing suicide but stop just before anything would or could happen. This went on for a month before anyone knew, then I told my mom. I couldn't talk to her about it much, so I ran to a friend for help. After that, it soon got around school. All the students, teachers, and school counselors knew. That's when the bullying came along. I lost all my friends. I felt so alone. No one understood what I was going through at the time, not even counselors.


The next year, more people started to become depressed and understood how I felt. I heard about people cutting themselves and trying to commit suicide. Because I know what it was like to be depressed, I decided to talk to them and we became friends. We helped each other get through the tough times. That's when I started to realize I wasn't alone. It was nice to finally have people there who understood.


As time went on, my depression has gotten better and worse. It's like a rollercoaster. I've also pulled a lot of my past into my life and brought myself down more. I'm now in tenth grade, a sophomore in high school. I still have pretty bad depression and to add to it, I now have horrible anxiety. Some days are better than others. Sometimes I'm perfectly fine and sometimes I'm completely horrible. I haven't tried committing suicide in a while but I have thought about it. More recently, I have been trying to take those negative feelings into helping others who have been going through a tough time in life. I know what it's like, for the most part, and I hate knowing others feel the way I did. I know it's going to take awhile to fully become better and recover, but I'm working towards it. I believe that I'm going through all this to help me grow and become a better and stronger person. And that someday, I will truly be "okay,” instead of pretending I am.


You're not alone! No matter what you're going through. There's someone else out there that knows exactly how you feel, whether they live two miles away from you, or 3,700 miles away from you. Stay strong and think positively. Things will eventually get better; you just have to believe they will.