Amber Smith is your typical social media user, posting tons of happy pictures. However, two of her recent photos have gained quite a bit of attention as the second reveals her dark secret that she’s been hiding for years.
Although many people know social media to be a façade, others seem to hold it to a higher regard. Amber explains that she’s one of the latter, but she has most recently decided to show the world her true colors.
Appearing as though your living a happy life is rather simple, you simply show people what you want them to see. Proving just that, Amber decided to post two photos of herself in a Facebook post – and they have turned a few heads. With the first simply displaying your average, happy-go-lucky social media photo, it would appear as though life is going just fine for the woman:
Amber later explained the meaning behind the second photo. “Taken tonight shortly after suffering from a panic attack because of my anxiety,” she wrote. “Also the ‘normal’ side to me that most people don’t see.” Although most people only know her as the girl they see on Facebook, a woman is suffering from mental illness while hiding behind all that makeup and those smiles.
Making matters worse, she’s been secretly “battling a monster inside her head” for years. Knowing that she’s not alone in her struggles, she went on to write, “They say that 1 in 3 people will suffer with a mental illness at some point in their life. 1 in 3! Do you know how many people that equates to worldwide?!”
In all, Amber simply wants people to understand what she, like so many others, actually experience on a daily basis. “I’m a strong person, I’ve been through my fair share of crap in life (the same as anyone else) and I will be okay,” she says. “I have the best family and friends around me and I am thankful everyday that they have the patience to help and support me.”
Furthermore, she urges others to be compassionate. “It costs nothing to be nice to others,” she continued. “Don’t bully others, don’t put others down and the hardest one of them all (as we have all done it at some point) don’t judge another person.”
Coming forward and exposing the “real” Amber was in no way an easy or comfortable feat for the woman to accomplish, but she’s hoping that something comes from it. In an effort to crush the stigma associated with mental illness, she lastly writes, “To anyone who is going through the same, please do not suffer in silence. There is so much support around – Don’t be scared to ask for help.”
Picking on someone is never acceptable behavior, but doing so can be made worse through ignorance. After all, you never know what someone is going through at a particular point in time, and you could be hurting a lot more than you can even imagine. The golden rule comes into play nicely here. If you wouldn’t like it done to you, don’t do it to anyone else. It’s that simple.