Clarisse Leech - USA

I have been living with depression for years, but I was only diagnosed with it in October of 2014. I have been in a happy, healthy, committed relationship since my senior year of high school. I am nonbinary, pansexual, have dyslexia, am part of a misunderstood religious minority, am part of a regularly ignored ethnic minority, and proudly take part in several subcultures that people willfully misunderstand or ignorantly misinterpret.

I am petrified by the idea that not only have I never been good enough, despite a loving partner who assures me that I am almost everyday, that I never will be, and everything I do is a waste of time. I regularly have to fight insecurities about my body, my interests, and even the way I interact with people because I constantly second guess myself. I am a survivor of my own mental disorder when it almost killed me.

I am not a convenient conversation piece, nor am I a first impression