As someone who has struggled with mental health issues in my lifetime, I am well aware of the challenges facing those struggling with their mental health. Over the course of my life experience, it is my opinion that simply destigmatizing conversations about mental health is the single best thing we can do to help those struggling with mental health. I am on a low-dose SSRI for anxiety. While I come off to many as outgoing and confident, I struggled profusely with certain anxiety-inducing situations such as my athletics or academics. I developed an eating disorder and severely impacted my sleep and behavioral patterns as a result of this. My athletics felt like a kind of hell for me. But it didn't have to be this way. My parents never wanted to admit that my anxiety was anything more than nerves, and I also didn't wish to admit that I was mentally ill. Yet, when my condition became so bad that it restricted my ability to carry out my life, I finally sought help. All it took was one doctor's appointment, and I was prescribed a low-dose, non-addictive anti-anxiety medication. Now, four months later, I remain on a minimal dose and haven't needed any additional medication or therapy. My brain just overproduces Serotonin and I started a medicine that stopped this, greatly impacting my life for the better. Medication or conversations about mental health need to be treated with less stigma. Speaking openly about our struggles or illnesses isn't a sign of weakness or calling for attention, it's the mature way of addressing a problem. Socially we seem to not want to admit these faults, and many people and even organizations discourage the use of or conversation about mental health-related medications. Simply talking can make so many people's lives better.

Keeping a growth mindset can be hard. Most people don't like feeling uncomfortable or challenged in their day-to-day lives. We usually prefer our guaranteed comforts over any unknow experiences or outcomes. But in order to grow as better and more open minded people, its critical we approach change in this way. Changing things can seem scary or hard, but approaching change in a certain way can allow us to grow everyday. To keep a growth mindset, I view change and uncomfortable experiences as being part of a journey. While at times we might feel isolated or vulnerable, we always find a way back to our comforts or routines. Keeping things in perspective and trusting that we have to be uncomfortable at times allows us to grow. We'd never learn or experience anything new if we never stepped out of our comfort zone. So learning to embrace this uncomfortability is key to us changing and growing.

"All things in time" This is a saying that has guided much of my philosophy throughout my life as I have worked out who I am and want to become (especially given my background in running Cross Country). I joke about being an impatient person, I'm a runner and the kid that practically jogs from class to class after all, yet I've learned the importance of patience firsthand in life. Most of us are familiar with our coaches or parents telling us to "trust the process" or how success is built on hard work. At times, given the fast-paced and busy world we live it, it can feel like we aren't making progress or getting places fast enough. But, I've learned to approach my life with an appreciation for this process. Life is a journey, and this part of my journey is like any other. It can feel pressing or stressful at times, but patience allows us to keep things in perspective. We might not get the results we seek today, or the outcomes we want tomorrow. But, when we put in steady commitment and work, we start to see change take place in time. Patience is key in our lives. We aren't sprinting a 100m race, we're running a marathon. And those that take it steady win the race.

I love how much I care about other people. I'm an optimistic person, and I usually don't give myself enough credit for look forward or working to better things. Yet, I don't just apply this vision to myself, rather I treat everyone I encounter with the same sort of optimism. Maybe its when I buy my friends and coworkers coffee, or always try and cook or bake for other people. Or maybe it's my willingness to always give my friends rides or to volunteer for school events. I just care about others. If I can ever make something easier or less stressful for other people, I do. I never like to see friends or classmates upset, and I always try and be kind to strangers. I have a love for other people that's influenced everything from the way I act in my day-to-day life, to my future career goals. I can be overly-critical or hard on myself, but I can appreciate the way that I treat others, and the love and care that I show them.

Everything works out in the end. I have lived, like many other High Schoolers, a life that's sometimes felt very overwhelming and stressful. I've spent countless weeks endlessly working through mountains of school work, practice, and social responsibilities, feeling like everything was demanding day in and day out. I've had the added burden of dealing with anxiety in parts of life, especially in my athletics, that at times made things feel impossible. This added anxiousness on top of my stress and struggles made life feel overly difficult and unenjoyable at times. But, if I've learned anything in my life, it's that all things work out in time. With patience and perspective, stressors in our day-to-day lives can be seen in a much more approachable perspective. They're just molehills, not really mountains. Learning to approach life with an optimistic attitude of figuring things out and trusting that things can be part of a process or come in time has allowed me to completely change how I've viewed my life and the obstacles I encounter in their entirety.

After years of growing up and figuring out who I am, I have finally found a way to understand and be true to myself in life. I use a simple question as a test, "Will I look back and be satisfied with who I am now?" Before I came out as gay or accepted my sexuality, I struggled with a heavy sense of confusion, anger, and imposter syndrome. I wasn't true to myself, my friends, or my loved ones. When I made the decision to finally accept and share who I was, that was the question I asked myself. One day, when I am much older and reflecting on the life I had lived, would I be satisfied with the decision I made then? Having this frame of reference in life allows me to take things one step at a time, nights where I struggle with relationships or decisions, I fall back on this question. I have learned that we always seem to know what's best for ourselves. We always know the right decisions to make for ourselves but we can let life or social pressures get in the way of making the right decisions. To stay true to ourselves, all we have to do is take a step back and ask ourselves if our presumptive older and much wiser selves would be satisfied with the decisions we make now.

I've learned that I'm unrelentingly optimistic. I have a faith and belief in the goodness of others that cannot be shaken. I truly believe that other people are and can be good people. I fundamentally believe that all things work out in time. The way we accept our truths and who we are over the years is the same as regimes of power and hate falling eventually. People say "all things in time" and I can't agree more with this saying. Finding out how much I believe in other people has allowed me to pursue the path I believe is best for myself in life. I know that I want to serve as a public official- not to make decisions myself- but to allow all those I lead to gain their own voices and recognize their own power. I believe one day that the death penalty will be abolished, that healthcare will become a human right, that LGTBQ people across the world will be equal, and that racisms and religious persecution will one day end. I know we'll make it to Mars and beat climate change. But I know that its the people of the world who will do these things. I know as a collective that we'll succeed. Nothing has been more valuable to me then the knowledge that I won't ever give up on other people, and the fact that we can all make it together.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, and remember: it’s all small stuff” This is a saying my great-grandmother shared with my grandfather, who shared it with my father before he shared it with me. He’s instilled in me a reliance on this belief and in my values. The idea that we should take life one step at a time is one of the greatest pieces of wisdom we can gain in our lives. I have lived with athletic-related anxiety much of my high school career and at times when I lost any sense of direction or felt like I was falling apart- my dad was always there with the same message. We place great emphasis on many things in our lives, Athletes like me stress about every race or workout. Parents fear for their kid’s safety or worry about financial issues. Students stress over assignments, tests, and- like many others in my shoes right now- college applications. So, when we undergo trials or tests in our lives, when we encounter frustrating or worrying obstacles, remember not to sweat the small stuff. Things have a way of always working out in the end. But remember, even when things feel like they’re falling apart or insurmountable, that it’s all just small stuff.