It's no secret that teenagers nowadays seem to be suffering from many more mental illness than previous generations. These statistics are higher because their is more awareness about mental illnesses now, but it is also suggested that social media has a direct correlation in the number of people with depression, anorexia, and other serious and dangerous mental health issues.

As someone who has gone through my own battles, and managed to make it out alive even when I thought I couldn't live till the next day, I have one piece of advice. And it's the advice you've heard from everyone. And it's the advice you don't want to hear. Please tell someone if you are suffering. Please tell someone if you're worried about your mental or physical health. Please tell someone if you're thinking about committing suicide.

That may sound like the hardest thing in the world, trust me. I know. I didn't tell anyone, and I let depression consume me till that was my normal. Faking smiles became second nature, burying my feelings became a reflex. And I wish I had told someone, because it would have meant that I would have had someone to talk to about all my problems. Someone to help me through my recovery rather than doing it alone.

You aren't being a burden, you aren't being overreactive. They will care if you tell them how you feel. They will care if you tell them that you feel like you have a mental illness. The people around you will care, and they will help you. Recovery from a mental illness isn't quick, and doing it on your own can be a very tricky and potentially dangerous process. It's so easy to give up. It's so easy to just give yourself up, and decide that life isn't worth living anymore. But it is.

You are alive. You are here for a reason. And if you feel like you want to leave this planet, then you need to talk to someone because that mentality isn't safe. That mentality is dangerous. And by talking to someone you are giving yourself an escape from the darkness, because you have someone to hold the torch for you while you climb out of that dark pit you're in.

So rule twenty nine of surviving Teenagehood: please, I beg you, if you feel depressed, suicidal, or even upset please talk to people about it. Your feelings and mental health are important, don't forget that.