A Promise

     As time goes along, and as I continue to share my journey, one story at a time, I continue to get positive responses from friends, family, and then some people that I barely even know. I have even been thanked numerous times for being so open about my struggle. I wanted that encouragement and acknowledgment from people on the outside of it all. I wanted the recognition. I didn't get that at first, it has taken me a long time to get people to pay attention, and to respond. I can not say how wonderful it is to get a thank you from some random person, just for speaking up about something that needs to be spoken more often about. But I didn't just do this for me. I did it for the people who can't or do not want to speak up about their illness's. I feel it is my responsibility to educate as many people as possible, and to dissolve the stigma, one person at a time. This is my promise. I will never stop speaking up about mental illness. I will never stop baring my scars to the world, I will never feel ashamed for sharing too much. There will never be a time when I will not emotionally be there for the ones who suffer as I do, because I know the importance of awareness. Knowledge is power. We all have something to give to this world, mine is my promise. I promise to never stop speaking up, because I care about every single person on this planet with an illness. It doesn't matter if I don''t "know them" in person, because I know them in my heart. I know what they go through on a daily basis, how hard they work just to stay alive, or even just to function. But as always I must say, this life will not always be so hard. There will be the good years, there will be the bad years. That's the reality. But I will do my part, I feel an obligation to continue telling stories, explaining what it feels like, because those of you struggling with a mental illness, you are my brothers, and you are my sisters. We will prevail. We will continue to educate the ones who do not know. We will live lives worth living. We are beautiful, we are not an illness, we are human beings. Never stop telling your story, and never identify yourself as an illness. Keep talking. You never know who's life you will touch.