You Are Tougher Than You Think

If you keep up with media and celebrity drama, you would have heard this already. A rapper that I am/maybe was a big fan of (@drake) came out in a new song calling out another rapper for his mental health. In his song, he says: You were the man on the moon Now you just go through your phases Life of the angry and famous Rap like I know I'm the greatest Then give you the tropical flavors Still never been on hiatus You stay xanned and perked up So when reality set in you don't gotta face it As someone who has struggled with depression and anxiety, I take personal offense to this. This is the exact reason there is a stigma when it comes to mental illness. If you admit to having a mental illness, you are weak, broken, and crazy. This was something I struggled with for a long time, hell I still do struggle with it. I have a hard time admitting that I need help or when I’m at a low point because I still think that it makes me weak. In reality, I didn’t ask for ...

Sometimes I question why I still do this. I don’t know if anyone even reads this blog…or even cares about what I have to say. Maybe my aspiration of helping someone, one day, is a little far fetched. It took one person I have known since I was young coming up to me and asking for details about my transplant and recovery to realize what I’m doing is still relevant, not just my imagination. I don’t talk religion here because it’s not relevant to what I’m doing. So this is just to give you the background of the group of people I was surrounded by to make this so touching. I grew up around a very special community that is incredibly close to my heart. They watched me grow, they were there when I had surgeries, they’ve kept up with my progress, and have recently watched me get healthy. Once a year we all come together for the holidays. It’s kind of a reunion of sorts. It was then that I was confronted by an old teacher of mine about her husband who was going to be undergoing the s...