Sade Andria Zabala

i am good at making problems out of nothing.

Although the stigma of mental health has decreased, the romanticization and stereotypes of mentally ill people – especially those with depression – seem to remain the same.

Dear Mother, I am finally learning how to say ‘thank you’ and express the gratitude you so firmly assumed I was incapable of having. Maybe by the end of this, you’ll also learn something, too – perhaps even how to be proud of me.

Love looks like a lipstick-painted smile on your face that feels as though belongs to someone else.

How do you make someone listen when they don’t want to? How do you fix the reality and existence of casual, everyday racism when the white perpetrators refuse to believe/acknowledge they perpetuate discrimination because they’re offended at being labeled a “racist”?

Whether you loved it or not, if you ever grew up studying at a Catholic school you’ll probably know what I’m talking about.

You recognized the soft in me when everyone else only saw the rough.

This pain is only right now. This hopelessness is only right now. This humiliation is only right now.

To be honest I’m not quite sure if you were even looking at me or looking through me. I don’t know you that well after all. Maybe you just like to stare at empty spaces and mistook me for one.

We must do away with the stigma that if a person is unwed then there must be something wrong with them or that if a person don’t deem marriage as a priority then they have psychological issues.

Plenty of people will gladly help to pull you down, you don’t have to be one of them.

By disguising consumerism as love, Valentine’s has sneakily nestled itself into our social rituals that you may not realize it affects you, too.