Not your ordinary tree, growing up there was always this little tree outside my bedroom window. It was very petite, almost non-existent. Occasionally people would feed it to help it grow, but it didn’t ever get that massive. Years later it grew drastically. Somedays it seemed bigger than others, but it was always huge. Somedays the tree’s arms would lean right up against my window and block the sun from coming in. It made my room gloomy and blue, when I just wanted it to be luminous and cheerful. At night it would crash and bang and make so much noise that it kept me up all night. It took away my sleep at night, and it distracted me from school during the day. It was constantly on my mind. The tree made me anxious. I can definitely blame the tree for my obnoxious amount of anxiety. The tree kept growing bigger and bigger. The 1,000 foot tall Eiffel Tower had nothing on the tree.

I didn’t want to be tormented and scared of living anymore. Enough was enough. I suggested to so many people that the tree monster be cut down. Nobody listened, nobody helped. I was on my own, I fought the tree myself. I tried an axe, and a chainsaw. I tried and tried but nothing was working, the tree kept winning. The tree was draining me completely and was taking over my life. Attempting to kill the tree only made it mad, angry and furious! It got even bigger. I wondered why nobody else around me had a tree like mine. I couldn’t win this battle. This isn’t an oak tree, or a pine tree, or even a maple tree...it’s a depression tree. The tree that torments you and destroys you inside. The tree represents a struggle that many kids develop and fight alone. Sometimes it’s more visible than others. The struggle can be major or minor but it doesn’t make the situation any less significant.