The life of being a teenager is already challenging but when at a young age you lose your brother to Leukemia it truly shifts your world. For this teenager losing her brother was the domino that fell and changed her life. A story that deals with the concept of perfectionism and how her parents shifted their thought pattern when her little brother died to her being everything that she can be and more. Sitting in her health class as her teacher talks about mental health and everyone is ignoring her, she begins to flip through the health book realizing that the changes she has been going through were breaking her mental health. Her parents seemed to be judging her on everything from her clothes being the best to her looks, grades, not allowing her to play sports because they didn’t want her to get hurt. So many things in her life changed when her brother died, and she felt herself breaking under this pressure that until this day she couldn’t quite put into words. Now her weight loss, inability to sleep, wanting to disappear, working to smile in public while privately hating herself all made sense. Like in any situation she had to find the words to ask for help. With the assistance of her teacher, she is directed to the school counselor who brings her parents in and as a family they begin to address her mental health, saving her life. This is a story of a mental health struggle that she didn’t know she had until someone randomly presented her situation in a health book. Sometimes we need help and don’t know it, don’t ask for it and don’t know how to climb out of the dark whole alone. But the lesson is always a simple one, there is always someone ready to help you, just find the courage to ask. *Story may be adjusted to fit any gender performer. Authors permission is given.
If You're Perfect
This all started at the beginning of my senior year. I was in my seniors only health class first semester and our teacher had one of those deep conversations with us about mental health. Like typical seniors we laughed under our breath’s and pretty much dismissed everything that Miss Wellington was telling us because well, she’s a teacher and she’s old so what the hell does she know right? I laughed along with my friends and sent messages to people on the other side of the class on my phone. Just laughing it up and disregarding the adult in the room like we usually did. It honestly felt like any other day. Don’t get me wrong I have straight A’s my grades are very important to me, I have a plan for the next chapter of my life, I have a vision for my future and a clear path to success. Jesus, I sound like a pamphlet, I feel like one sometimes too. What I didn’t realize was that today was honestly the first day I ever thought about mental health or how my mental health has been affected. Affected by my parent’s high expectations and this feeling, or rather this ton of bricks that sits on my shoulders - this vision of little miss perfect.