Worth Living Ambassador Norah Quirk
Hi, my name is Norah Quirk. I’m 24 in my second year at St. Francis Xavier University, I am majoring in Development Studies and Anthropology . I for a long time struggled with anxiety, depression, and PTSD, and an eating disorder that I am finally coming to terms with and have finally turned things around with my life.
Mental Health Impacts You More Than You Think
For too long I allowed my depression to have a say in my day to day life. It got to the point where I would go days without eating and not even eat half an apple and be full. I was always tried which I never understood because I seemed to always be sleeping, I struggled with my schoolwork and it showed in my grades. I took a year off. I wanted to focus on getting myself better. It was not as easy as I thought it would be, I had my bad days but with each bad day I learnt a lesson to help me get better. I took a Mental Health First Aid Course to help get a better understanding of myself. Everything that we went over hit me in a hard place because I could relate to it too easily. I got myself back into working out which I know made a big difference. I would have a bad day or stressed out so I would go to the gym and not even 5 minutes later, I would be feeling so much better.
The reason why I’m sharing this is because university is a big step up from high school. I never had to worry about working out because I was always on a sports team. In the run of the week, I would normally have spent 3-4 days after school at practice where I would constantly be physically active. Going to university, it was hard enough keeping up with the schoolwork, so the idea of participating in a school sport team with all the practices and games and focusing on your studies shows a great deal of discipline by the student athletes for which they should really be commended and they are expected to maintain a certain grade average. It’s not always easy getting back to my point, I never realized how important being physically active had an impact on one’s mental health.
I am back in school now and I feel like a new me. I’m getting high marks like I used to get in high school and I have a rule that I have to go to the gym at least three times a week if not more. If you’re not happy with how your life is going, take the action that is needed to send you in the right direction, surround yourself with people that don’t bring you down. You will be surprised how many people will be your friend just because they only feel happy about themselves. If they’re putting you down, don’t sweat the little things in life, try to live each day as it comes. If you can put a smile on someone else’s face or cheer someone up, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Thousands of candles can be lightened from a single candle and the life of a single candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.