I’m 19 and a woman. I’ve been dealing with undiagnosed mental illness since I was 13. I refused to go get help when I was a teenager and told myself other people needed more help than me. I could sit here writing down my life story but I’ll be here all day. Instead I’ll just say that I’m suspicious I have a form of depression, possibly generalized anxiety, struggle with staying clean from self harm and have been told I appear to have possible symptoms of BPD from my parents.

Now that I’m 19 I’m realizing how not getting help earlier has affected my past relationships, family relationships, my job, and school. I know that I have to get my shit together.

So here’s my question:

For those who have gotten help, how did you get the courage to ask for it? Or how did you go about starting your journey of recovery?