BRITTANY MARIE’S STORY

Digital Creator / “FROM MAKEUP TO MENTAL HEALTH”

I went to school for makeup and did that for a little while and I realized I could just teach people what I had learnt through YouTube. So I got myself a really cheap little camera and started filming in my parents living room and I still enjoy makeup but want to get more into mental health because I just never shared my story. I didn’t talk about it for maybe 10 years or more – not with my parents or even my boyfriend. I want to use my social channels and end the stigma with mental health.

I started getting anxious feelings in middle school and they build up – just over thinking things which a lot of people do especially in school – so I started feeling those in middle school and they built up over the next few years and experienced my first panic attack at 12 years old. I don’t want to trigger anyone with anything, so I won’t share what thoughts I had, but I would just go to the bathroom and suffer silently by myself and didn’t want anyone to know I was having those feelings. I continued having those until I was about 26 years old.

I don’t really have depression – more so anxiety. I finally ended up talking to my parents and boyfriend – and they told me I need to go to see someone. I went through a questionnaire with my doctor and we determined I don’t have depression. With depression, there’s a lot of feelings of hopelessness that you go through. I don’t know if I was feeling completely hopeless. There were periods of that but they are separate. However they are often experienced together. It’s something I would highly recommend speaking to people about it – even if it’s just your friends – because chances are they are experiencing, or have experienced, the same things too. They could be in the same boat as you but just don’t want to talk about it.

It’s kind of messed up that almost everyone on the planet has some form of mental health problem – that is either temporary or long term – but why is no one talking about it?