15 celebs who positively raise awareness for mental health

Troian Bellisario

Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario is another actress who tried to cover up her mental health while in the spotlight. Years later, she realizes that coming forward about it will help a lot more people than it will hurt, Including herself.

She, too, penned a personal essay describing her disease in a way so many have related to.

"As someone who struggles with a mental illness, my biggest challenge is that I don’t always know which voice inside me is speaking. My body voice, the one that says, Troian, I’m cold, get out of the lake, or my illness: You told everyone three times, so you can’t disappoint them. You are not enough. Who cares about the difference between two times around and three? I do."

Personally, the “you told everyone three times, so you can’t disappoint them” jumps out to me as the most relatable. I can’t even remember all the times I felt like I was disappointing people because I wasn’t up for what I had once originally said. Not only did I feel bad in general, I felt bad for the people I was letting down. I felt like a failure; like I was worthless.

It’s hard to believe that you need to put your own happiness and well-being before anyone else’s. It’s hard to know that you may be letting certain people down, especially people who are close to you.

But it’s important to remember that the battle going on inside your head is not yours to fight alone. You can seek help. You can surround yourself with people who understand it. You can explain to your loved ones what you’re feeling. And, at the end of the day, your happiness and headspace is what matters.

We’re living in a hard time right now, where bad things seem to constantly outshine the good, and turning on the news can be triggering to anyone. But we’re also living in this incredible era where mental health is being talked about like never before.

So keep talking about it. You never know whose life you might be changing by doing so.