What are depression and anxiety? Why does one usually lead to the other? Why can’t we all just be happy all the time? To me, none of this makes sense, all of these questions are important. I can’t answer all of them but I can help you understand what it is, what it feels like, where to get help, and how to cope with it. I have had plenty of traumatic experiences and I don’t mind sharing. I’ve been told by many that I am really good to go to when something is wrong, because I know what it’s like to feel lost and not know what to do or how to get rid of the terrible feeling in your stomach when something bad happens and all you want to do is just cry.  Cry everything away. Then sleep, because, in those hours or however long you are asleep, there’s nothing but sweet and peaceful silence.
    So what is it? I can sit here and type out the actual definition of both depression and anxiety but that to me, that definition doesn’t tell you what it really is. Depression is constant sadness. Depression is an empty feeling and just feeling lost like you have no purpose or reason to continue. Depression is feeling like everything's your fault, like anything bad that happens around you suddenly feel like you are the reason everyone else around you is struggling. It is getting upset over things “normal people” wouldn’t get upset about.
    Anxiety, what is it? And how does it fit in the same category as depression? People think anxiety is just being nervous to go up in front of people to give a speech in  English class. No, you get anxious when you go give a speech. Everybody is anxious about something. But this does not mean that you have anxiety. Anxiety is so stupid, it makes you feel so lonely and different from everyone else. Anxiety is being afraid of what people think about you all the time. It’s feeling like you can’t talk to anyone because you’re afraid they will judge you, even your own mother. It’s freaking out when too many people start talking to you at once. Anxiety is the fear of coming to school because you woke up late and didn’t have time to look your best and afraid of people calling you out on how you look. It’s constant fear and nervous breakdowns. It’s so hard to overcome.
`    Depression and anxiety go together because, most of the time, if you have anxiety you’ll push yourself away from everyone else. You’ll start to feel left out because you constantly push yourself away from moments that terrify you. You begin to feel like no one cares. Everything gets dark and terribly scary. You hide everything from your parents so you start to feel guilty. At this point, you’ve dug a hole, and it’s too deep to try and crawl out of. It is really hard to try and overcome this terrible feeling. The second you notice that something is wrong you should go tell an adult or a friend.
Where can you get help? And what will they do to help you? Well if you’re in school you can always go to an adult or maybe a counselor if there is one. If not talk to a parent or guardian and tell them that you think something is wrong. If you go to a doctor or psychologist for these things, they might try and give you medication that might help. When I went to go get the help they told me it was pretty bad and put me on these pills that just made things worse, so I decided myself, that I didn’t need those pills. I am now trying to cope with these terrible things alone, with absolutely no help whatsoever. It can be really difficult at times. I just have to try and find things to pick myself up and do the things to help me feel better and cope with these problems.
    What can you do yourself to cope? I can’t tell you what to do to get better but I can tell you what I do personally to help cope with anxiety and depression. Whenever something small happens I always feel like there’s something wrong with me, and that I am alone. But you aren’t,
there are millions of people suffering from these things every single day, just like you. You can overcome this horrible feeling. You can’t be afraid to reach out and get help. If you think that you can’t fix this yourself, don’t be afraid to reach out for help, you're not alone and you can always go ask for help. Also, if I am upset about something I distract myself by doing something that usually makes me happy. I can go talk to my friends, spend a weekend hanging out with them. I always feel so much better when I am not alone.
    Never be afraid to tell someone if something is wrong. You can always reach out for help. Don’t push yourself away from everyone when things go wrong. There will always be help for you to reach out to. Everything will eventually be okay, but you won’t get anywhere if you don’t try. I know it can be hard but you will be okay.