Tears streamed down my face.
Just one week after I set foot on campus for my freshman year, I sat in the car at a gas station with my dad and sister as they prepared to drive me back to Rhode Island. My life felt like it had come to a screeching halt.
I was supposed to be stargazing with my friends. I was supposed to be Hillsdating. I was supposed to be doing all the quintessential things that define the Hillsdale experience. Instead, I needed care for an ailment that nobody could see but that I felt deeply.
Fortunately, I had a strong support system.
Hillsdale offers free counseling and other support programs for students who struggle with their mental health, but what I found to be most helpful came from within the student body itself.
Students should not neglect counseling; however, the role of friendships often goes underappreciated in the battle against anxiety and depression.
As anyone battling these fights knows, anxiety and depression don’t have clocks. They don’t discriminate based on who you are, what your dreams are, or the friendships you have made along the way.
You know what else doesn’t have clocks? Friendships.
Mental health support systems may exist at other schools, but the friendships created at Hillsdale are rare. Hillsdale friends will answer the phone at 3 a.m. They’ll go on a drive during finals to take a break from studying. They’ll drop everything to make sure you are OK.
At Hillsdale, our friendships are rooted in love, honesty, and support. We help each other when we are down, and we cheer for each other when we are at our best. It is who we are as students. It is who we are as a college.
We take the same classes and learn the same values: prudence, integrity, and compassion. This sparks a close-knit community in which students support students and friends support friends.
My friends allow me to talk to them about what I am going through, and I do the same for them. We encourage one another, listen to one another, and fight through our battles together.
During Centralhallapalooza my sophomore year, fear and anxiety overcame me. I left and broke down in tears. I could not bring myself to see anyone or talk about what I was experiencing until I was vulnerable with an upperclassman friend. She listened to me as I explained how what I had expected would be a great night turned into a terrible trial thanks to my depression and anxiety.
I spent the rest of the night with friends who understood that I could not be the energetic Micah I normally am, but who still accepted me as I was. My friends loved me for the person I am, anxiety and all.
None of this is to suggest that you stop your counseling sessions and toss your prescriptions in the trash. Counselors are trained to listen and offer advice on how to navigate living life with mental health diseases. It doesn’t matter if you took Intro to Psychology — you, as a student, are not a counselor, and cannot help your friends in the ways a trained professional can. If you as a friend are feeling burnt out, it is OK to step back for a minute. This is why we have multiple resources for supporting mental health.
But friendship doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in this regard. So thank your friends — what we have here is so special.
I drive by that same gas station every time I enter Hillsdale. It never fails to make me emotional. I am a senior, and I’ve had to combat my anxiety and depression to get to where I am, but I didn’t do it alone. We are never alone. From friends and faith, to family and therapists, we all have a team rooting for us here at Hillsdale College — relationships that will matter for years after graduation.
The education and community we receive here teach us how to think, but also what it means to empathize. We are taught “the good, the true, and the beautiful” in our education, but we also see it right in front of us — through the Hillsdalians who exhibit what true goodness and beauty look like through the hills and valleys of mental health.
Micah Hart is a senior studying politics
