Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was extremely draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty bad depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone. Nor do they have to go through it without the choice of medical help. I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.

Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was extremely draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty bad depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone. Nor do they have to go through it without the choice of medical help. I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.

Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was extremely draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty bad depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone. Nor do they have to go through it without the choice of medical help. I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.

Before the sixth grade, there was no major challenge that I faced other than my parents' divorce. Sure every kid has had challenges that were big but mine never affected me the way that getting diagnosed with Type one Diabetes has. When I was originally diagnosed, I had to miss 4 days of school to be in a children's hospital pretty much on bed rest. I couldn't talk to my friends, couldn't play outside, and most of all I couldn't eat like normal kids could anymore. Every time I wanted to have a snack or a meal I would have to take a shot and I constantly had to check my blood sugar. If it was too high I couldn't eat for a while but if it was too low I had to go out of my way to eat or drink something even if I didn't want to. This led to frequent trips out of class to the nurse's office every day which as a kid you can imagine would make you looked down upon by the other students. They would always say "Oh why does he get to leave class?" or "That's not fair." It made me not want to tell people what I was doing because I didn't want to not fit in with the crowd. I struggled with it behind closed doors and prayed so much that God would take it away because I was tired of being the odd one out. However, that's where I went wrong. Having this disease is what made me unique and allowed me to realize that we are not meant to first in but to stand out in our own way. No one has the same story and we all struggle with our own behind-the-scenes problems but we only show what we want people to see. That's the problem though, when you shelter your problems from the world, it presents a mask of who you actually are, and when everyone does it, society builds an unrealistic mask that no one can live up to. People are meant to let their true colors show, it's what brings life and unity to the world which you can't have without being true. finally being me has allowed me to accomplish so much and achieve a level of happiness I didn't think was possible. It's allowed me to go up on stages in front of hundreds of people and preach when I'm still self-conscious with stage fright. So when you ask what challenge I faced and how it changed me, my answer is life. It throws you curveballs but those challenges are what make us who we are today and impact us for the better.

Before the sixth grade, there was no major challenge that I faced other than my parents' divorce. Sure every kid has had challenges that were big but mine never affected me the way that getting diagnosed with Type one Diabetes has. When I was originally diagnosed, I had to miss 4 days of school to be in a children's hospital pretty much on bed rest. I couldn't talk to my friends, couldn't play outside, and most of all I couldn't eat like normal kids could anymore. Every time I wanted to have a snack or a meal I would have to take a shot and I constantly had to check my blood sugar. If it was too high I couldn't eat for a while but if it was too low I had to go out of my way to eat or drink something even if I didn't want to. This led to frequent trips out of class to the nurse's office every day which as a kid you can imagine would make you looked down upon by the other students. They would always say "Oh why does he get to leave class?" or "That's not fair." It made me not want to tell people what I was doing because I didn't want to not fit in with the crowd. I struggled with it behind closed doors and prayed so much that God would take it away because I was tired of being the odd one out. However, that's where I went wrong. Having this disease is what made me unique and allowed me to realize that we are not meant to first in but to stand out in our own way. No one has the same story and we all struggle with our own behind-the-scenes problems but we only show what we want people to see. That's the problem though, when you shelter your problems from the world, it presents a mask of who you actually are, and when everyone does it, society builds an unrealistic mask that no one can live up to. People are meant to let their true colors show, it's what brings life and unity to the world which you can't have without being true. finally being me has allowed me to accomplish so much and achieve a level of happiness I didn't think was possible. It's allowed me to go up on stages in front of hundreds of people and preach when I'm still self-conscious with stage fright. So when you ask what challenge I faced and how it changed me, my answer is life. It throws you curveballs but those challenges are what make us who we are today and impact us for the better.

Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was extremely draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty bad depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone. Nor do they have to go through it without the choice of medical help. I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.

Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was incredibly draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty lousy depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone. Nor do they have to go through it without the choice of medical help. I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.

Mental illness has been a huge part of my family's life over three past three years. It has affected many members of my family from my sister, my niece, my mother, to even me. Growing up I had been a part of a broken home where my parents divorced while I was young which always just left me wondering if it was my fault. I was around six at the time so I had to learn to always keep my guard up and learn to play my life like a chess game, always being ten steps ahead of my situation. Doing this though was extremely draining and I lost my ability to just enjoy the moment. My parents would constantly fight over the custody which made anything I said subject to my Miranda rights. Anything I said or did can and would be used against me in court by my own parents. Due to this, I fell into a pretty bad depression in 2020 because I was stuck with my mom and she wouldn't allow me to see my dad and family for two and a half months which was one of the hardest times of my life. I couldn't see my friends who often helped me get through my problems as well which made it that much harder. With the depression that came over me, I often had thoughts of suicide and sadness but the thing that got me through was my relationship with God. There were many nights where I would sit there and cry and just want to give up but each time I would pray and God would give me peace. I would rest in the comfort of knowing that he was there. Later in 2022, my sister got out of her abusive marriage where she was in a bad depression as well. It affected her physically to the point where she couldn't get out of bed most days but with medication and a lot of therapy, she was able to pull through. Having two mentally ill people in the household was no easy task for the family but eventually, my niece started having it too as well as my mother. This drove me to step up and get better so that I could help them to pull through. Over the next year, I made it my goal to help anyone struggling with mental health regardless of who they were. I would comfort people contemplating suicide or even people in abusive relationships who were just like my own sister. Out of this experience, I've learned that mental illness is one of the hardest things a person could go through because their own mind is against them. These illnesses need to be advocated for so that no one has to go through it alone, I will continue to fight until I see the day when anyone with it can receive the help they need without judgment.