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I was thrilled to graduate from college. College was not the fun, easy, time of your life experience for me. It was hard. Every second of it. Most of my classes were hard. I registered for speech class six semesters and dropped it on the first day for the first five of those semesters. {side note: my last speech was a celebration speech. I chose "The Last Day of Speech Class" and my professor loved it.} Music is hard. It is more than just sitting around playing music all day.

As hard as it was, I had friends and professors cheering for me, encouraging me, and challenging me every day. Someone was near me almost all of the time. We became a family, as cheesy as that sounds.

The last semester was the student teaching experience. I was no longer surrounded by my family, but by 1,000 elementary schoolers and a mentor teacher who did not need to have a student teacher. Needless to say, I was done. Ready to get out. Ready to start my job caring for "my" sweet little girls. I was so excited.

Then I graduated. I have the best job. It is hard but there's nothing I'd rather do. I live with a family who has become my family. But if you know me, you know that change is one of the very long list of things that I S.T.R.U.G.G.L.E. with. Even if it's good change. I no longer have the safety net that was school.

During my freshman year, a psychiatrist diagnosed me with clinical depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I am SO much better now and I'm thankful for all the people who helped me through that time.

I still struggle. I am fully aware that I have it easy compared to so many people. But the thing is, depression is real. Anxiety is real. And it can be sneaky. It can be debilitating. I may overthink a situation. Then I get anxious about it, which leads to depression because I cannot stop thinking about something that I may have said that may have been misinterpreted. I get angry with myself because why do I have to be so darn sensitive? Why do I not run to God during every hard time in my life? Why can I not just choose to be happy? And what the heck do I have to be depressed about? My life is good. There is nothing for me to be sad about.

Sometimes I am so anxious that I dread going to hang out with friends. Not because I don't want to see them, but because I am scared. Sometimes I am afraid to make a phone call. I am afraid to ask questions. I am afraid to reach out to anyone to say, "Hey, I'm hurting. I need a friend."

Growing up I was indirectly taught that depression is sinful. Medication is sinful. Anxiousness is sinful. I need to trust God. Trusting Him will make it better. Those things are not necessarily true.

I believe that God is good. All the time. I believe that He allows us to walk through difficult times for a reason. We may never know that reason. I would like to believe that He has used me to encourage someone else or even bring someone to know Himself. I do not, however, believe that if you just trust God, life will be all better. I believe it's a process. One that I am still trying to work through and will for the rest of my life.

I have hope. I love the Lord. I believe that He is good. But right now I am struggling. I am hurting.