My name is Morgan Burns. I'm a 21 year old undergrad student at Appalachian State University in the mountains of North Carolina. I've been struggling with anxiety and depression since a very young age, possibly even as far back as elementary school. I've been able to "just deal with it" for the majority of my life, but my illness really came to the surface about two years ago, my freshman year of college. I ended up on a completely nocturnal schedule, never went to class, and did a lot of things that I'm not particularly proud of. I was going to turn things around the next year, transferred to Appalachian for a fresh start, but I was stuck in a stressful living situation with physically destructive and threatening alcoholic roommates. I only lasted two months before I suffered a complete mental break. I've lived the subsequent year in a hole that I've struggled to pull myself out of, but my skateboard has always been there. I bought it when I first moved to Appalachian after seeing NCDH videos, but didn't begin to really learn until last winter. When you skate, you can't think. I'm used to my mind running a million miles a minute, but you don't have time for that while skating. All that goes away and you can only focus on the road ahead, taking each bend and obstacle with as much skill as you can. Skating is my center, and will forever be better than any medication or coping skill.
Photo credit for both pictures in this post goes to Jacob Johnston
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