The moment I had waited for all evening had finally arrived.
Evening is an understatement; I’d been anticipating that night for months. Between the loud beats pounding from my heart, I managed to hear my name and push myself from my chair. I don’t remember walking, but suddenly I was at the stage, hugging Demi Lovato, standing at a podium, staring into warm yellow lights and the silhouettes of hundreds of faces. Abruptly my panic was gone. I felt a wave of calm as it sank in that my fear of failure no longer mattered—my story did.
Before I reached the moment of receiving an award from The Jed Foundation for my work in mental health advocacy, I experienced a painful journey caused by my eating disorder. I spent most of my high school career in recovery, and it was a constant battle between my will to heal and the destructive mindset of my eating disorder. On top of it all, I was afraid to tell so many people I loved what I was going through. I was fearful of being stereotyped, of my persona being reduced to that of “the girl with the eating problem.”
But in working with my team—my doctors, psychologist, nutritionist, family, and close friends—I realized I was never in danger of becoming so one-dimensional. I learned that my illness did not define me; in fact, my recovery revealed a depth of character within myself I never knew existed. I found strength within myself and the relationships that supported my recuperation, hope in each and every step that led me further away from my eating disorder, and passion for better treatment for anyone suffering from mental illness.
By the time I graduated high school, I was ending not only a chapter in my academic career, but the part of my life in which I suffered from an eating disorder. I left for college at the University of South Carolina fully recovered and with a newfound passion for mental health advocacy and awareness. I was fortunate to have access to incredible treatment resources as well as people to help me find them, but I learned that that wasn’t the case for everyone. I began to search within my university for networks of support in which sufferers of any mental health issue could find the assistance they needed. I found a campus health program run by students called Changing Carolina Peer Leaders.
Soon I was helping with events spreading awareness of common mental health problems students face in college, such as stress, depression, and anxiety, among others. That experience led me to discover The Jed Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health and preventing suicide on college campuses…
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