I slipped into this dangerous cycle of maintaining control and creating future plans for myself. I allowed myself to continuously daydream and visualize about my future timeline which was nonexistent in that moment… I was pretty confident in the plans I had made, but something just felt a little off. Deep in my heart, I knew something just wasn’t right.

It has been said that “hurt people, hurt people”. This is so true. When someone is hurt and is trying to cope, they hurt people.

I had a good life; I was a good kid. But the battle I faced with depression filled me with shame. It was exhausting to pretend I was fine, joyful and the bubbly life of the party when I was really crying myself to sleep several nights a week.

When I encountered the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was like I was hearing and seeing for the first time.

My whole life I’ve expected others to not let me down, for friends to be faithful, for them to understand me and want me in their lives. The problem is that’s not reality. It’s hard for me to accept, but the truth is that I let people down too.

“But don’t think this was a waste of time. It was really powerful to see people my own age talk about the faith like you guys did. There was definitely a seed planted. Who knows where this is going to lead.”