Coming off one of my best seasons of my soccer career in my sophomore year of high school, I started associating with people I had not before. All of a sudden I was wrapped up in what the success of soccer brought me and thought I was in one of the highest points in my life. Coming into my junior year of high school, I was looking forward to the soccer season, but also for the new attention and happiness I had gotten from the relationship I had just begun. It felt great. At that time I thought my life couldn’t get any better. Little did I know how wrong these hopeful feelings were.

The professionals say we shouldn’t avoid our problems because when we run away, it doesn’t change the fact that they still exist. Sure, running makes the problem seem more distant in the moment, however, there will be a moment in time where you can’t maintain the speed you once began with. Your problems when not dealt with runs parallel with the storyline of the tortoise and the hare; their slow and painful demise will always win if you choose to run.

My goal is to help as many people as possible. I decided to major in psychology because I want to learn about the human mind and hopefully become an eating disorder psychologist one day. Although my story is extreme. There are so many different ways people struggle with eating disorders. Never compare your story to someone else's. Your feelings are valid no matter what and you are loved.

I have been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember. This served me in so many ways that were beneficial for so long that this became second nature. I always was a teacher's pet in school, doing every extra credit assignment possible to get near perfect grades, staying after practices if I had a “bad day”, and needing leadership positions in every extracurricular activity I participated in. However, this perfectionism in combination with other life events allowed me to hyper fixate on my body image and comparison with others, and increased a desire to be in a perfect body.

Hi everyone! My name is Samantha Hagenbush, but everyone calls me Sam or Sammi. I am a junior at Penn State Berks in Reading, PA. I am a Kinesiology major with a Psychological Sciences minor. I play both basketball and tennis at Berks and I am a heavily involved student. Before reading my story, I want you to ask yourself the following question: How can you be an advocate for others if you aren’t an advocate for yourself?

I’m 28 years old. I was once a student-athlete playing Division I lacrosse at Manhattan College. It was truly a dream come true - one I never imagined achieving. Never playing club lacrosse or having the opportunity to showcase my talents because of constant injury, somehow, someway, I luckily and thankfully found myself at MC. Entering college as a fresh 18-year-old girl, never being on my own, I had no idea what was coming. My entire life up until my freshman year of college, I made it my mission to be someone of strength and guidance for my friends and family. Because I was so invested in supporting others, I left no time to support myself.

If you’re reading this and you are struggling or in a dark place, and you don’t see a way out, I’m living proof to tell you IT GETS BETTER. The only way out is through. You are loved, and you matter so don’t ever lose sight of that.

I have been playing competitive softball since I was ten years old. I was blessed with great coaches and a great support system. As I grew up, my self-confidence decreased and I found myself comparing my abilities to everyone else on the field with me. As time went on I found myself in a deep depression. To the point where I didn’t want to play softball again. This changed the way I played in a negative way.

We all deserve to wear that gold medal around our necks. Everybody has different stories, and we all have different backgrounds, but everybody has had to endure something to get to where they are. Be proud of it. Refuse to let people invalidate your accomplishments. There is a reason that they are YOURS.

Hi my name is Uzma but I go by Uzi. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I'm 19. I'm gonna be a sophomore in college soon, and my mental health story began when I was about 6ish when I lost my first grandparent and uncle. I was too little to understand what happened or what death was but I knew I was upset and it was hard to cope with it. I was also sorta abused by the nannies growing up and family members of the family growing up.