Growing up, I felt I was unable to talk about my emotions and I often kept things to myself. After a while, I developed anxiety and self-diagnosed depression. And for a long time, I would never call those emotions what they were because they were seen as not real emotions in my culture. As an African American child, you are taught to be strong and not show weakness. Never let anyone see you cry. But what the older generations failed to realize is that within weakness there is strength. Towards the end of my high school year, I had a major personal event happen that affected my emotions significantly and I struggled to hide how I felt.  I began to have panic attacks, I didn’t want to go out, some days I wouldn’t want to eat. One of my close friends took notice and my friends mom was the first adult figure in my life to reach out and let me speak to her about the situation without fear of looking weak, because we came from different backgrounds, she helped me to understand the importance of vulnerability and that discussing the hard to talk about emotions. I want all minorities, despite culture or societal expectations, to know and realize that all emotions, especially the negative ones, are normal and very real.