26 today.
Going back to my high school days, I remember thinking I couldn’t imagine myself at 25 or 26 thinking that was so old 😂 .
Crazy that I’m here.
25 was one of the most interesting years of my life.
For the second year in a row, I lost a friend of mine who was in their 20s to a mental health battle.
Trevor was probably the 2nd most important person in my life outside of my family from age 12–18.
Knowing Trevor as my friend with so much passion for life and having fun, the person who everyone gravitated to at the cafeteria table during free periods in middle and high school, the person who was just straight hilarious with his jokes and banter, the person I loved debating sports with, it makes you think about the system we have in place for mental health talk, especially as young adults enter the working professional world and are thrown a lot of stress.
The one thing that hurts me the most is I never had a chance to thank him for the impact he had on my life during our middle school and high school years.
As I enter 26, I hope that I don’t lose anyone else from here on out to mental health battles.
I hope my content has helped destigmatize mental health within my community and encourage people to prioritize their mental health as part of their well-being.
I hope anyone struggling out there sees there is light, that life can change for the better.
To anybody who thinks mental health isn’t that serious, let me leave you with this.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10–34 and fourth leading cause of death among individuals between ages of 35–54 (Source: CDC).
The sad part is we’re losing too many people. But the good part is collectively we can change that.
Please, if I can have one birthday wish, look out for your friends, keep in touch with them, have real conversations, and normalize getting help.
Love you all 🙏🏽, thank you for the birthday wishes :)
