#BellLetsTalk I want to take the opportunity to share a personal story here. Many of you who've followed me for a while have probably seen this photo. It was my twitter avi for nearly a year. The truth is that the three days before this was taken, I basically cried nonstop...

alone in my single dorm room. I posted a lot of photos on social media that winter that made it look like I was doing cool things and having constant fun. Not true. I struggled with perfectionism, general + social anxiety + self-doubt. I frequently felt lonely and sad.

a phrase I hear a lot in college and in orgs is "you get out what you put in." this isn't true and can be such an alienating phrase, bc mental health struggles don't come because you didn't work hard enough. sometimes, mental health can limit what someone is capable of putting in

I've also heard the misconception that if you have a job you love or do cool things or have success, it doesn't make sense to struggle with mental health. this is also not true and extremely damaging. anyone can struggle with mental health + it's up to all of us to end the stigma

but there's a lot of lies we tell ourselves on social media. we tell ourselves our friends are happier than we are, or sometimes even that *we* are happier than we are. people in general are good at hiding things online. you never know what someone might be going through

after posting photos like the one I did above, I view social media differently. I don't assume that anyone's photos represent their full life, because mine don't represent my full life. when people are struggling, they tend to hide it.

if you have ever struggled with mental health, it is not your fault or because you're a bad person or because you didn't do enough. it's ok to be lonely and sad. it's up to all of us to keep in mind: you never know what someone else might be going through.