“I wear the yellow necklace to show my strength and power from coming back from suicide attempts. I’ve been struggling for a while, once I started college things became a whirlwind of all types of emotions. I’ve been hospitalized 7 times and am not ashamed, it helped me stay alive and that’s what’s important. I’ve struggled with an eating disorder and ran myself into a race for death. The less I ate I thought the better I was doing. But it was killing me in the inside. I now have grown stronger and am still fighting to be happy. I carved the word stupid into my arm because that’s how I sometimes feel. I might be doing well in college but I always feel like I could do better. I am 2 weeks free of self harming and try to always make it one day longer. I will feel defeated some days, but I will try to grow. Social anxiety has pushed me to my limits. When I was younger I only talked to my family not anyone else. It became a problem in school. I still have anxiety about talking and looking at people but I have made progress in these areas. Sure I wish I didn’t have social phobia, depression, and an eating disorder but that’s life. You have to take what’s thrown at you and try to work with it. I hope everyone can adapt to new environments and learn to love themselves (easier said than done). This is a poem I wrote: Before I go to bed I turn the light on in my closet. When I was young my dad would look for monsters. Truthfully, there never were any when he looked. The monsters came later. They tip toed in without my dad noticing. For if he knew he’d still check my closet. The monsters are loud, and tormenting me through the night. I never sleep soundly, for I’m afraid they’ll hurt me. When the morning wake I turn off the light and start the day. The monsters don’t go away though, they walk beside me. There was never any monsters in my closet when my dad checked. That’s because they stay lingering on my back.” @skyeblue68