Get Help When You Need It

Therapy Can Make You Stronger

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

For the longest time, I’ve had depression. I’ve always had a sense of insecurity, coupled with anxiety and low self-esteem. And if I followed the values I was raised with, I would never seek help.

Here’s some background tea. In school, I was always bullied in one form or another. I was ostracized sometimes and called names. I was generally nervous in school as a result. As I got older and school hierarchies became important, I saw myself falling behind. I didn’t know how to maintain friendships, I barely understood how to keep up with hygiene and I couldn’t understand the dating game. I lost a lot of “friends” as a result.

I noticed my life was difficult when I went off to college. That was a completely different world to me. I didn’t know everyone like back home. And there were people that were extremely mean and nasty to black students. As a result, I became deeply depressed. I sought service from the on-campus clinic. It did some good, but then, my therapist left. She was a student and my favorite therapist of the few I’ve seen. I never went on medication back then and I wasn’t ashamed that I was getting help. It made me feel whole.

Why should you get a therapist? I know it can be pricey without insurance. But when you’re in a bad place mentally, it affects every other area of your life. If…