A sense of belonging is a measure that should be installed into the brains of all individuals. Who we are develops from two things: nature and nurture. Both determine how we utilize the skills we have and apply them to our everyday lives as people to make us stronger.

While we assume most individuals are living in healthy and happy environments, there are some out there who experience depression and a lost hope in their lives. Most times though, individuals are oblivious to the events that are occurring in other people’s lives.

Depression is an illness and can cause everlasting negative effects in a person’s life just like any permanent physical injury. While this may sound extreme, a physical injury is one that occurs once and through therapy and recovery the physical one can be dealt with while depression can be in an individual’s brain for five years disappear for ten years and then reappear for the rest of their life. According to Healthline, about 16 million adults had one depressive episode in 2012 which is 6.9 percent of the world. This is drastic and we are losing individuals who could make a difference.

There is much regret among individuals who cope with depression. They act as if their current life could have been bettered by working harder for something in the past. However, this regret comes years later. Why is this the cause through? It’s due to being scared. When individuals are young, they don’t have the confidence, and wouldn’t want to, for example, build their family in fear that they can’t provide enough for them.

I want to personally tell those individuals that feel lost with no right direction that there is hope for them. Don’t hesitate to make a choice, and if it goes south then who cares? It’s about building yourself and creating a life that drives you to make a difference for yourself and strengthen your confidence, while also eliminating the fear that was once imprisoned inside of yourself. The fear that caused you to feel so much remorse in the life that you live today. Living in fear is no way to live, so take that chance so you don’t live like a robot and repeat those same mundane daily tasks of waking up, going to work and sleeping. People with depression and mental illness aren’t robots, their thoughts are zig-zagging and have no idea what their next step will be.

To those individuals that make fun, or think less of those who cope with constant anxiety and pressure: you are all a complete disgrace to humankind. Just because it doesn’t harm you, doesn’t mean you get to look down at others. Think about this before you question my moral beliefs on this issue: how does depression in one individual impact the well being of a family? The key to a well developed family is trust, and a person suffering from depression feels as if attacks are coming at them, and not even their family is a reliable team of members that they can share their conflicted problems with.

As we ask ourselves how can we make a difference, know that there is a solution to this. Help others find the problem early on, before it turns into an adulthood problem that escalates.  Usually, individuals who should be helping, like therapists, deem themselves as loving and caring, but instead are only being supportive for praise and even money, which they will continue to get, because instead of listening and fixing the problem they just see another constant patient, which means steady paychecks for them. Let’s start making a difference. It begins no where else than in schools. I want people to trust their peers and be okay with openly talking about their hardships. It may be a difficult task, but if schools took more of an initiative to prevent these problems, there would be less loneliness and suicide rates would drastically drop. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there were 43,193 suicides in 2015. A change in how we help people should happen, and individuals need to treat others better.

Stop and think the next time you see someone struggling. Nobody understands what someone’s past was unless you talk with them. We all have conflicts that we would like to express with others and maybe we can find someone who understands what we’re going through. The next time you jump to conclusions about an individual, you aren’t running away from a problem, but you are instead afraid to help others. I want to see change with this and it starts with you, the students and faculty here at schools, so lets start Grosse Pointe North.