suicide<\/a>. In fact, there was a time in 2014 when he was attempting suicide and his father interrupted.<\/p>\n\u201cI was to a level that I was willing to do anything possible to leave, to end my life. I was recklessly living so I could die,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mess. It\u2019s sad. It is so many things that I can hardly explain without tears
\ncoming to my eyes, but I lived through it, I got through it, and I am here, alive, to say that everything is going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
More recently, Solomon has sought out the help that he recognized he needed. Even though it may have taken him longer to get to this point, he acknowledges that making this decision on his own is a huge first step.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepression isn\u2019t a one day thing. It stays around and sticks around until you are willing to better yourself and willing to get help for your own good, not the people around you,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n
On this path, Solomon has become what he calls a \u201crealist\u201d and can see moments for what they truly are and is more honest about the realities of his relationships and life choices.<\/p>\n
The changes he sees in himself are noticeable. Solomon is no longer the negative force altering the mood of others; he has more determination than before and is happy for the first time in a very long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell I don\u2019t really know [whom I am], because I was depressed three-fourths of my life. So now I\u2019m just starting to understand who I am and to understand the things I enjoy doing, the people I enjoy. It\u2019s fun,\u201d
\nSolomon said.<\/p>\n
Although he finds self-exploration fun, Solomon still has to make conscious effort to get through some days. He often follows the advice of athlete David Goggins when he says to \u201cembrace the suck.\u201d This is doing something you don\u2019t want to, but you have to just get out and do it. For Solomon, this may be working out, saying goodbye to toxic people, or quite simply getting
\nout of bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll make yourself stronger and become a better person from it. It [the journey] has significantly changed my mindset in a way I never felt possible,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n
As Solomon continues to share his story and work on his mental health with the help of a counselor, he wants others to take the steps to beat depression.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Bethany Vonseggern Do this for people. These four words could mean anything, yet everything. For junior Hayden Solomon, they mark a significant day on his journey to share his story of anxiety and depression. Through the negativity, the multiple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[171],"tags":[561,696,246,697],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4631,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4630\/revisions\/4631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/yearbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}