It’s that time of year again, folks! We’re looking for bloggers to join the 2019 Fall/Winter You Matter Blogger Council. The deadline has been extended! The deadline to apply is now Friday, August 30th, 2019. You Matter has always been a space for youth, by youth, to share stories and make your voices heard. If you’re […]
I just need to get out of here. They’re too many people, too much stimuli. But leaving would be awkward, and I can’t make my feet move. I feel my heart racing and my breathing get faster, shallower. I look around for a familiar face, someone to feel safe with, but I can’t find anyone. […]
I can’t seem to care about my feelings. To me, all feelings are overwhelming because I either don’t know how to take care of them or I just don’t have the energy to. I feel ashamed of this helplessness and it’s been a big stumbling block in my relationships. However, all I’ve been able to […]
“Sometimes when you’re depressed, the things you don’t want to do are the very things you need to do in order to feel better,” my therapist told me. Great, I thought, for just once could there be an easy answer? “As you start doing things, it gets easier,” she continued, “and you begin to have […]
The first time I brought up suicide to anyone, I felt scared. I was confused and concerned about what they would think. I had never even thought about reaching out to someone to tell them what I was thinking until that point, and instead I questioned everything that went through my mind. “Does it even […]
The news spread like wildfire: there was a dead body on campus. For hours, students were scrambling for information. Who, how, when, why? Rumors were flying with misinformation and stories. The school was quick to email everyone with a vague description and a promise that as information came and was appropriate for the public, we […]
Over the past couple of years I have read countless self-help books on the effects of a dysfunctional upbringing. For better, or for worse, these books have opened me up to types of pain that I have avoided, and given me permission to feel them. While this awakening has been very exciting, it’s also been […]
[Content Warning: The effects of sexual assault on mental health] I think for a long time I’ve strived to be normal or to “pass” for normal. I’ve tried to hide my past and my continued struggles, but my past is a part of me. And those struggles? Well, they are too. Today, I feel stronger […]
Growing up, I had heard meditation discussed as some sort of new age nonsense. Subsequently, I had never given much thought to meditation or its possible benefits until my junior year of high school when I had the opportunity to listen to a talk given by a group of Tibetan monks. Seeing the monks in […]
Sitting on the grey couch in my therapist’s office, I remember telling her that I didn’t feel safe. At the end of the session, I had asked, “What am I supposed to do? This is the only thing I can think of.” That’s when she brought up the Box Method. “Picture a box. It can […]
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