“I chose white for mental health because it has played a huge role in forming my identity and self. I was forced to experience some very “adult” moments at an unfortunately young age. While having to mature quickly shaped my strength, it also caused me to overlook my own mental health issues. I was in denial for a very long time. My eating disorder was partnered with constant anxiety, an unknown identity and depression in my teenage years, and an enormous amount of hatred for myself. I was also becoming increasingly angry and desperate for someone to understand what I was going through, internally. I allowed myself to be treated poorly by so many who I thought could care about me. My worth was so. I sought love and help in all the wrong places and at all the wrong parties. I desperately needed help, but I felt I had a duty to help people close to me in my life with their own mental health issues instead. These issues were swarming around me to the point of taking over. Resources for those of us struggling with our mental health issues were scarce and far from effective at this time. I also stubbornly refused to seek help. If I would have just paused and acknowledged that, in order to help the ones suffering around me, I had to first help myself, then my treatment would have happened a lot sooner. Mental health issues are real. We strive to help others, yet refuse to, or find it hard to, help ourselves. That thought process needs to be restructured with self-compassion. I chose this white-colored A.W.A.R.E. necklace to represent my past left untouched by therapy and the journey to overcome my mental health issues. Now, I am working hard in graduate school to become a therapist and help others in this wild little life. I cannot wait! Remember to love yourself love others.” @ashleylynn.simon