did you know????

This week is mental health awareness week!
We are all affected by mental health issues, even if we are not aware of it. Some have a friend or family member that struggles with every day living, some know folks that struggle during different seasons and some are affected by the people that they meet in their lives. I am not just talking about the obvious ones that you see and hear when you meet someone, I am talking about the ones that are silent. When someone suffers from depression or anxiety, you can't always tell by looking. They usual suffer in silent or share their struggles with those closest to them and appear well put together and confident when dealing with the rest of the world. They become experts at presenting themselves as cool and confident. I have met many people that society would label as "normal" that struggle everyday based on the chemicals in their brains.
We always talk about spreading awareness, being more accepting and not judging and I think that what we need to do is stop stereotyping and assuming that someone is a certain way based on what they look like and what they do. If we could possibly treat each person that we encounter in our everyday lives with dignity and respect that we would be a lot closer to that acceptance thing. We don't know by looking what a person is experiencing or dealing with, let's stop pretending that we do!