There are a lot of things that I went to college to learn, besides academics.
I learned how to do laundry (welcome mom), I learned how to cook for myself, how to interact with others that I am not necessarily fond of and I have learned time management on top of all of this. But this was all expected.
What wasn’t expected was people not understanding depression.
When I first went to college almost 3 years ago, I thought I would straight up tell my roommates about my depression and be honest with them why I didn’t drink. Well, they didn’t like that. They shunned me a little bit, and it even got to the point where they asked me to move out, because they didn’t know how to deal with me in case I had a problem. That’s basically what my first roommates said to me, that they didn’t want to deal with me.
One thing that they don’t tell you about going to college with depression.
Getting out of bed is hard enough for a typical person, getting out of bed with depression? A little bit more difficult. You feel unmotivated and unwilling to interact with the outside world. High school? You can get called in sick for the day. For most colleges, you miss 3 classes and you’re out. I used to hate going to class and having to socialize with everyone. I did it, yes. But I really just wanted to let them all know how I was feeling on the inside. But what happened with my first set of roommates, I was scared to let people know how I was feeling because I feared of being judged and losing more people in my life.
Two things that they don’t tell you about going to college with depression.
I always felt alone on nights, most of my dorm would go out to party, but I just didn’t want to. It meant feeling alone surrounded by a bunch of people. What’s kinda funny looking back though is that I really wasn’t alone. A lot of college students suffer from depression, especially the people you don’t expect to be.
Three things that they don’t tell you about going to college with depression
How do you picture a person who suffers from depression? Do you see a person that wears all black with cuts on their wrists? Or do you see a person smiling brightly on the outside? You never know who is suffering from depression. Everyone is beautiful, but not everyone is able to see that in themselves.
Depression doesn’t define you as a person. Depression makes you the strongest person you’ll ever meet. ❤
Comment if you have had any other experiences you didn’t think you’d run into with depression and college! Let’s let everyone know!!!!