I know the teenage rollercoaster ride all too well.

It feels like just yesterday I was walking through the high school halls, where all I could think of was the battle I was having. My negative inner thoughts, anxieties, the demons I was facing were taking over… But no one would’ve guessed that.

Despite having good friends and a supportive family, I kept it all to myself. On the outside I looked fine, but in reality I was slowly checking out. I spent more time alone in my room, less time with my friends, and started to disconnect with everything around me.

Especially with the boom of social media apps, it became routine to see the “perfect” side of my peers through highly edited posts. Everyone was “perfect” except for me. This belief led myself (and many other young men) to keep things to ourselves, and bottle up our emotions.