Anxiety and depression began to consume my life around the age of 13, and would continue to control each aspect of it up until I learned how to live again during my time at Spring Lake Ranch.
Going into my last year of middle school, something inside me changed and I was no longer able to function without experiencing an overwhelming wave of anxiety. About a year into this new on-edge way of living I got prescribed a low dose of Paxil (an anti-anxiety/anti-depression medication) and, for a while, this worked. My freshman year of high school was extremely ordinary. I started playing sports again, and went to dances and parties, and really seemed to have all my anxiety and depression under control.