“I’ve been starting to get the term ‘I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist.’ I’ll be thinking about everything ‘Yes…but like realistically, this is more likely to happen.’ And then I’ll go, oh. What happened to the old me who was like ‘It doesn’t matter?’ The old me who was like, ‘This will happen and I know it will all turn out okay because even if I don’t’…T-They’d be so surprised, I know she would be. Um, you know, I think she’d be a little disappointed. Yeah, I’d rather be back there than here…When I was medically diagnosed with depression, I figured out what that weird, heavy feeling in my chest was whenever I was hanging out with my friends. I was scared I would not be able to live out this moment again, that I might not ever see these people in the future again. I-I want to hope they’ll be there. There’s something about struggling with other people that makes you alone, but you’re not lonely. You’re struggling together. And that’s the important part. Together. You’re there together, and you're all growing together, you’re all learning together, and you are helping each other out of the…ditch that you’ve somehow fallen into. You’re gonna meet people who you hate. You’re gonna meet people who you love. You’re gonna start changing opinions. Things are gonna happen. Some good, some worse. Towards the end of it, you’re like, well the rollercoaster doesn’t ever end, but it will stay steady. At one point. Or you learn to live with the fall. You get over your fear of it, you enjoy the ride, and it’s like, ‘I’m not gonna get off this. I might as well have some fun.’ So I’ve been trying to get accustomed to the rollercoaster, you could say. It's been changing a little, but that might just be part of maturing and growing up. It’s not always the happy side, it’s the better one. More realistic one”(Brooklawn Middle School, NJ).