How to: Turn Your Life Around

My mother once told me depression didn't exist. I was a nine-year-old developing mixed feelings about the world while growing up with parents screaming and throwing plates at each other. Hence, the depression I suffered at the time and many years after that. By the time I reached high school, I had found people with similar family issues. There was no denying how messed up we were due to all the trauma thrown at us.

Our high school experience was a rollercoaster. We were petty after every argument, had no clue how to fix our problems, and had to teach ourselves the right way to react to different situations; that took quite a few years before we all got the hang of it. There are three of us, one with daddy issues, the other with mommy issues, and there's me with a cheating dad and a mom who stays with him "for the kids."

We embarked on a life together and found family within our friend group. High school was full of girls who strived to be famous and furious guys in gym class. We dealt with all of that with blunts and alcohol. It wasn't the best choice, but we didn't know better back then. Our minds were in full survival mode, toxic families that we, underaged teenagers, had no control over.

I find being active and consistently going to the gym is the solution to avoiding my smoking habits, and it's been working for many months. All I've got to do is tell myself that if I smoke, I'll be too hungry and tired to work out and give it my best. I also have asthma, so it may be easier for me to quit than most people since it is a pain to smoke in the first place.

I enjoy filling my empty schedule with self-care habits if I have no one to spend the day with or if I want to be alone. I enjoy yoga since I can stay home and remain active simultaneously. In addition to that, I also find colouring a great way to spend time. It helps me focus and gives me something to do for fun.

Online classes are also an excellent way to educate yourself in the summer; they are not fun but educational. I was always one of those students who studied when I had upcoming tests. Therefore I surrounded myself with people who genuinely enjoyed learning—those brilliant students studying out of the city because they are too bright. I always thought nerds were all about exploring and hanging out with their friends solely to research. I was proven wrong as I became best friends with one.

I believe in the saying, "surround yourself with people who keep pushing you." I was a university student barely making it through my classes to finally being able to understand and do good in them. It's a great thing to be inspired by people. In return, I brought my best friend to the gym and taught her everything I know that has worked for me. It wasn't a favour, more like a reciprocation.

In your life, you need to take control when you can and use that opportunity to learn from every mistake and aim for anything that gives you joy. It has not been easy to get this far, and after every breakdown, I tend to reminisce about my old habits, but we get to a point in life where it is too far to go back. Adulthood teaches you to prioritize happiness and keep grinding while you can. Life is full of surprises; you never know what you can do until you try it.