Mental health in college

When they tell you high school will be the best four years of your life, they are absolutely lying

to you. At least in my case.

Coming out of high school, two things were absolutely consistent for me: my struggle with

anxiety and depression and having “good” friends that never really made me a priority in their

life. I never felt like I could be open about my mental health issues in high school: I was afraid to

take up too much space or be too big of a burden on people’s lives, so I chose to struggle alone.

When I entered college, I was so excited to step into a new chapter of my life, leave high school

behind, and finally find where I belonged. I thought it would be easy and simple. That I would

walk into college, make a million friends, my anxiety would ease, and life would be perfect. This

was not the case for me and absolutely isn’t the case for the majority of people.

My anxiety and depression got worse and worse through my freshman year. I began to make

friends, quickly to realize I was in the same situation as high school: that I put so much more into

the friendship than they ever did. I made all my friends a priority and yet I was never made a

priority in their lives.

I continued to struggle in silence: I went home most weekends, struggled to keep up with class,

and felt the most alone I have ever felt. I won’t go into details about the depths of my mental

health issues at the time, but I want to emphasize that you truly never know who is struggling in

this way. I always maintained the happy exterior everyone I knew was so used to: but that front

was so far from the truth in how I was feeling.

Fast forward to the summer going into my sophomore year of college. My mental health was still

as bad as it had ever been. Three of my friends from high school who had actually stuck by my

side through all of this and absolutely didn’t fit into the category of most of the friends who

didn’t have my back pushed me to sign up for recruitment.

It was probably the scariest decision I had ever made. I walked into recruitment as someone who

was broken, still hadn’t found my place in college, and was in love with the idea that this could

be my chance.

Bid day at ADPi was one of the best and most memorable days of my life. I have never felt so

loved and seen by a group of people than I did that day and every single day after at ADPi. I was

able to open up to girls I had met weeks before about my mental health struggles and was met

with nothing but support and love. My sisters would text me randomly to make sure I was okay

and constantly reminded me that I was never taking up too much space by being open with my

struggles.

These friendships I gained make me so emotional because truly this sisterhood is something

special. I simply can’t explain how loved and chosen I feel every day. (I know this sounds

cheesy, but wow is it so true). I had finally found girls who put me first and really wanted what

was best for me.

Joining ADPi didn’t fix my mental health issues or take away my anxiety: I still struggle with

these issues every day and go to therapy to try and work through them. But it did give me a

group of people to hold me up when I am not able to.

I am forever thankful for the women of ADPi for meeting me where I was, allowing me to take

up space, and graciously accepting me with love.

Loyally,

Abby Rhodes