I grew up believing in dreams much bigger than life itself, as I made my way through my carefree life. More than anything in the world, I wanted to become an Olympic track and field athlete. I envisioned myself standing on the medal podium, with an American flag draped on my shoulders, a bouquet of flowers in hand, and my hand over my heart as our national anthem played in the background. It was settled that my path in life was to make this dream my reality. I was always outside, running around beneath the sun, my blonde hair cascading down my back. My life was fearlessly beautiful; It was full of opportunities, friends, and amazing memories. As I grew older, I felt something begin to shift inside of myself. As I entered middle school, I embarked on my journey through anxiety and depression; except I didn’t know this at the time. I began to put increasing pressure on myself to succeed academically, as I strived to live a “perfect” life; I wanted to maintain good grades, feverishly working my way up in class rank. I loved having my 4.0 GPA, and some semesters I achieved even higher. Physically, I put even more pressure on myself, pushing my body to reach my golden, Olympic dream. With each year that passed I worked harder and harder, but time began to slip through my fingers right before my eyes. I felt my mental health falter as struggles began to slowly trickle into my life; My Pop passed away in November 2016, which was devastating, and to cope with this loss, I threw myself into my academics in 2017. I tore my ACL and meniscus in 2018 during track practice, and in 2019, I felt myself scrambling to recover to make up for the time I had lost. In 2020, my junior year was accompanied by an epidemic, and I lost my track season and the ability to see my friends in person. My Gram passed away in July 2020, which was equally as devastating as my Pops passing in 2016. During these years, my anxiety and depression worsened and reached one of its peaks in 2021. During my senior year of high school, I went through academic burnout and no longer cared about my beloved GPA or furthering my education in college. I pushed many of my friends out of my life, unable to trust anyone with understanding my anxiety or depression in fear of being judged. I was the epitome of a person who seemed happy on the outside, but so incredibly broken on the inside. During 2022, my anxiety and depression reached another one of its draining peaks. My relationship ended, I underwent my second knee surgery on my opposite leg, and I began to fail my classes in college. I was a physical therapy major at Misericordia University, but I had felt this major never suited my personality. I had never been so incredibly lost before; I seemed to be floating on a boat in the middle of the raging ocean with no compass or sail to help me get to my destination. I am honored to say that I made it through the storm, and as the clouds parted and the waters stilled, I began to see the silver lining of my life. I had internally faced countless battles in my nineteen years of living, and I am honored to say that I have won every single one of those battles. I decided to create my podcast “Uprooted,” as I embarked on my next journey, healing. I felt that my life had been uprooted from the path I had planned for my life, and I found myself in a completely new place with a new direction. I started my beautiful podcast in hope of spreading awareness on mental health, as all people are capable of having struggles in life; but likewise, all people are capable of healing. I faced perfectionism, comparison, self-hate, failure, and many more obstacles that simply made me feel that I was never going to be enough. The ironic part is that many humans feel these same emotions throughout their lives. I hope that by talking about my struggles, people begin to realize that we are more similar than we are different in this life. My main goal is to allow people to realize that they aren’t alone in the struggles of life, and that they will never be alone. We all struggle, and with this knowledge we can uplift each other and walk besides each other during these hardships. I am so grateful for what I have faced in life because I have learned so much about life within those time periods. In each episode, I talk about my personal struggles and life lessons that I have learned throughout the years, and how I have grown into the person that I am today. I finally love myself and every version of myself, and I enjoy life to the fullest every day, even with my anxiety and depression. I am proud to say that I am enough, and I am always going to be enough, and I hope that my friends on Spotify realize that they too will always be enough. My podcast means the absolute world to me because I feel that I am helping others by speaking out about the struggles of being human. I want all people of all ages to know that, yes, darkness does end. Yes, you are worthy of living, and that yes, you are loved. The struggles that I have faced in my life do not define me as weak. My struggles have made me strong and wise, and with every episode, I hope that people are brave enough to search for their inner strength. Trust me. The strength within you never fades if you are brave enough to seek it