Week Six: Objectives & Goals

Sometimes you can never understand people's pain and why they do what they do. And other times, even years later, you understand completely. It's terrifying. Sometimes the barriers we put up block others out and other times they block ourselves out.

I've been debating all week about which memoir idea I want to explore the most. I'm choosing to write about my recent experience with depression that allowed me to understand it in a way that my fourteen-year-old self didn't. I want to talk about my realization and how it affected my way of  thinking, especially in consideration to the way I handled my close friend's revelation of depression and suicide back in ninth grade. I picked this particular topic because I think that I have the ability to explore a range of emotions and a shift in perspective in life.

From writing about this, I hope to come to terms with my realization. I want to further explore what it means to see a situation differently and to understand it, even years later. I want to capture the uplifting and freeing feeling of finally being able to see past something that affected my life and friendships to much-- back in ninth grade and now in the present. Since the two parts of my life intertwine so much, I want them to be told so that parallels and understandings can be drawn between them.

I want readers to be able to look at mental illness in a more open-minded way. Specifically, from my story, I want them to be able to look at people in their lives and their struggles with a different perspective. I'm hoping that people will see change and hope.

When writing this memoir, details I don't want to include are specifics about my friends and her struggles in ninth grade. Although she is important to the story, it's not her story. And it's not my place to tell her story. I also don't need to include what my life was like in ninth grade outside of that particular incident or my life between then and my realization. It's not important to the ultimate goal of my story.