As a Generation X female, mental health awareness specifically depression is not a subject that came naturally to many of us as we were growing up dealing with issues that didn't have a name or were conversations to be held in secret with lots of shame around it. I found myself as a young adult at Campbell University switching my major to Psychology from law because I was fascinated with how the mind worked and didn't realize for years that I was embarking upon a very expensive therapy route for myself. It was years later that I realized the feelings I had were not the same feelings everyone else had. Sure everyone has situational sadness and various forms of grief, but when you are person who lives with depression it is with you daily. After having my son, I didn't realize I was in the midst of postpartum depression and just continued to put one foot in front of the other because that is how I was raised. Through the years, I went to traditional therapy and it would help for a while but it was a costly venture so it wouldn't last long due to financial concerns and because most women put their self-care on the back burner. It wasn't until my son was experiencing a change in his life in the young teenage years when the hormones were coming into play at the same time as some situational sadness was at hand. I witnessed the signs in him that I had experienced for years and it helped me to articulate my own feelings so the two of us could have a good conversation. Basically, my son held a mirror up to my face and I took a long hard look at my life living with depression. I am blessed to have such an amazing son who is open to conversations with me. There are plenty of people living with depression daily that do not have the family, knowledge, support or resources I was able to obtain to take the edge off that depression and allow me to live a life where I am in control of depression and not the other way around. I believe we need to lift the veil of shame and secrecy and openly discuss mental health in this country and have affordable support systems in place. We have come a long way since my youth but we have a long way to go.