{Han: One of Our Desert Daisies}

I'm Hannah. I'm a mormon, a closet ukulele enthusiast, a college student and I suffer from major depressive disorder.

I was a senior in high school when I had my first real experience with depression and it was awful. I felt completely alone. No matter whom I talked to, no one could ever truly understand what I was feeling. I was doing all of the right things (or at least trying) but I still wasn't happy. I tried EVERYTHING to fix my mood I:

Wrote Songs

Attempted to eat my weight in cupcakes

Didn't eat at all (I don't recommend it)

Attempted relearning guitar

Served People

And yet with all these decently good (some not so good) things, nothing was changing! I was miserable and felt that I was going to be stuck like this forever.

After some pretty scary experiences, I decided that this was not something I could fix on my own. I needed some serious help. After meeting with a therapist for months and still not feeling like myself, I asked my mom to check me into a neuropsychiatric unit for people with emotional disorders.

I was officially humbled as I laid in my hospital bed that night unable to have hardly any contact with the outside world. I had never felt more alone than I did in that moment. I needed comfort. And as I lay there utterly distraught I remembered our Savior, Jesus Christ.

As Mormons are Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ was a real person who suffered all of the things we experience in this life: heartaches, sins, and even my depression. We also believe in a Heavenly Father whom we can pray to any time and anywhere. When I finally remembered these beautiful truths that night, I was reminded of the power that the grace of the atonement can provide for each of us through our trials.

One week later and I was out of the hospital feeling refreshed and ready to change my life around! Were things perfect and depression-free after that point? Definitely not. However, my burden was made much lighter through Jesus Christ.

It's been over a year since I went to the hospital and I have been able to accomplish so many things that I never thought I would be able to do! I graduated high school, I'm attending college, I got to send my friends off on LDS missions, and life has been wonderful.

So how did I get to this point where I'm now blogging about my emotional experiences? Well, after my depression started to become much less intense, I realized that I desperately wanted to help others who may be struggling with things similar to what I went through. I want people with depression and other emotional issues to know that they're not alone. There is hope, help and happiness!

Hence my good friend Alyson and I came up with the idea to create this open forum blog. We want all kinds of people- Mormons, Non-mormons, Christians or Non-Christians, to be able to discuss with us their experiences with emotional disorders.

I'm Hannah. I'm a Mormon, a hater of dishes, a lover of ice cream, and I am a survivor of depression.