Mental Illness Recovery Series: Story # 24

This is the 24^th story of the Mental Illness Recovery Series. Jas is a strong teenager, who realized that in order to overcome her mental disorders, she has to accept it and fight. This is her story:

Jas is a 15 year old from Ontario, Canada and she enjoys reading about other people’s lives and thoughts. Her goal is to become a police officer and have a family of her own. Jas was diagnosed by a mental health professional in Toronto, Ontario with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder with signs and symptoms of ADHD. To this day she still has it. The feelings of being abandoned and being alone from my own family, and thinking every day that she wasn’t “good enough” is what caused her mental illnesses. Jas went to a hospital multiple times and she was treated with different medications and activities to help her cope with her illnesses, For example; counselling.

Jas had to deal with bothersome symptoms, she said, “I feel, the hardest thing to do in life is breathing and trying to push through it. One day I would want to cut my veins open or be really happy and energetic.” This affected her daily life, Jas said, “Having a mental illness affects you a lot, knowing you can’t have the energy to wake up or go do the dishes. The thoughts of killing myself or hurting myself would haunt me daily.” Sadly Jas has attempted suicide multiple times and she almost succeeded once but she thought to herself, what would happen to her family. Jas has scars on her stomach and both of her wrists and thighs.

Her relationships with others has been affected. Jas said, “Every day, I felt so irritated by everyone and anyone talking to me, I was rude and grumpy, and of course how I was feeling affected people that loved me so much.” This made her feel like she was going to be angry and sad her whole life, but she realized that it was her choice to get back on her feet. Jas said, “It wasn’t the doctors or my mother, it was me. Because I was the one who was feeling like this. Not them.”

The turning point for Jas to control her mental disorders is to push past it and focus on things that make her happy. Jas thought that nobody can help her, she said, “I thought nobody could help me, I didn’t want anyone to help me because I wanted to prove that I can help myself.” The lesson Jas learned from this ordeal was that not everything is going to end well, but that shouldn’t be a reason to affect her. This experience has changed her in many ways, she said, “I lost people in my life that meant a lot and I couldn’t help myself but push people away. Today, I try to help people, and talk to them about what’s getting them upset.” Jas continues to fight her mental disorders.

This is her advice for others struggling with similar situations:

“Anybody out there, somewhere, can message me in my tumblr box (username: youre-cocky), and I will be here, I promise. I can’t stand the fact of other people hurting so much.”

Jas is determined to keep fighting and to help others along the way. Even though she still has a long way to go, I believe that one day she will be able to overcome it. Help me make a difference by sharing your story.