Sonder: Youth Mental Health Stories of Struggle & Strength | Page 42

A CHANCE TO LEARN CONT.
cafeteria when we were eating breakfast. She was tackled thirty feet from the fence
and brought kicking and screaming back to the unit where we sat in silence. I stared
as a PRN was injected into her leg, and her feet continued to flex, a marionette being
yanked around, while she was dragged into the padded yellow room. The love and
fear I had for them still squeezes the breath from my lungs. I learned that everybody
is going to react to their emotional pain differently, and I can’t own their pain, or take
blame for it.
I had spent years trying to own all the negative things that happened to the people
around me, not caring how it affected my own emotional health. I let people bully
me and I refused to stand up to them because I didn’t want to acknowledge that it
was happening. I learned not to blindly trust people and give them opportunities
to hurt me, and to keep a small group of close friendships.  Accepting the help that
I needed in Texas brought me home two months later, where I have remained. I
still go to therapy as needed, because everybody has lows that you just need some
help climbing out of. The communication I maintain with my family is what keeps
me bouncing up after I fall, so please keep talking to those that support you best --
people will listen if you speak up. ●
40  Anxiety