I’m only sixteen. The average person lives to about 72; I looked it up. So, if the average person lives to about 72 years and I’m presently only sixteen, why am I driving home from work crying, having to take breaks in the bathrooms during school to keep the panic attacks at bay, drowning in stress, struggling just to catch my breath?

They cause you an enormous amount of  pain that you never thought you could feel, and a part of you dies. Physically you don’t smile or laugh as much. Mentally you shut people out and push them away before they get close. Spiritually you lose part of your sparkle. A part of you dies, with your memories of them.

I wasn’t diagnosed with depression until this year, although I had been showing and feeling it for almost two years prior now. Depression has taken a lot from me, quite honestly I don’t remember the last time I actually felt alive.