I want to be a voice for people who struggle with mental illness, depression, and anxiety. Some experience it more deeply than others, but regardless, it’s real.

It’s easy to front a smile and seem like the happiest person in the world. I’ve had people nickname me Smiley. What they didn’t know were the nights I cried alone, wishing I could be anywhere but here. I’ve seen some very dark days, feeling misunderstood, lost, alone, purposeless, and exhausted.

I tried drowning myself in alcohol to forget. I would smoke before bed to silence my mind and force myself to sleep. I saw a psychiatrist, tried different medications, and went through phases of shutting down completely. One of my biggest weaknesses has always been that when I’m down, I want to disappear and hide in my room for days.

Through it all, my mom was my anchor. She never gave up on me, no matter how hard I was to reach. She gave me tough love when I needed it most, even when I didn’t understand it.

At sixteen, she found me passed out from alcohol and had to call 911. As they wheeled me into the hospital in the middle of the night, I screamed over and over that I didn’t want to be alive. That is the only thing I remember from that night, me screaming, and I know no parent should ever have to hear those words from their child.

She put me in therapy, and I still go today. Therapy saved me. It helped me understand my patterns, the ways I used depression as protection, as a reason to hide instead of heal.

I used to tell myself, I’m depressed, so I can’t do this, as if it justified staying stuck. But that mindset only buried me deeper.

I’ve met so many people like that, people running from themselves, convincing their minds they’re broken beyond repair. But I promise you, you’re not.

You can get out of it.
You can heal.
You can become the version of yourself you once thought was impossible.

I fought with everything in me to get here. And that’s the purpose behind Gifted Angels, to help people find their light again. To help them see that purpose is the cure for pain, and that discipline and faith can rebuild what you thought was gone.

You are not alone. You are strong. You were brought here for a reason.

Let me show you what it feels like to believe in something greater.