I was born to a mother who is intellectually disabled and has the mental capacity of a pre-teen. In the end, my mother chose to give up her parental rights and physical custody of me to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) when I was nine years old.

While mental illness definitely can have physical symptoms, it's not visible like a broken bone or a deep cut, but I would argue the emotional pain is comparable. I live with anxiety and depression, two different mental illnesses, yet they both work hand in hand.

For the past 16 hours I have been having an anxiety attack, my first in many months. I have been pacing around my apartment. I have been vocal with what its like to live with mental illness but a thought occurred to me earlier: Why not write a blog while I experience this anxiety attack inside of waiting until it's over and recollecting what it felt like?

Recent statistics show that at least one in five of us will have some sort of mental illness over the course of our lifetime. My hope is that there can come a point when it won't matter that you live with mental illness. But until then the best way to reduce stigma is to talk and educate yourself. The more often we have a discussion, the more we learn.