I have nervousness posting this blog. The majority of it comes from the intense stigma of 'mental illness'. The fear that future employers would not want to deal with an employee who struggles with anxiety. The fear of people looking at something like this, and not seeing the strength it takes to write it, but rather someone who is weak. Because that's how we deal with disorders of the brain in our society. We see people struggling as just being deficient in dealing with things, whiny even. But here's the truth: people who struggle with mental illness are some of the strongest and most determined people you will ever meet. I didn't understand what it was like to have your brain betray you until I had my first anxiety episode in high school. It came on like a freight train; I went from feeling normal, to feeling like I was crawling in my own skin in days. It's a feeling of utter dread, terror, hopelessness, and sadness wrapped and boxed with a pretty little bo