"Come Back to Me When You're Fine"

Demi Lovato (as shown in Glamour magazine) has publicly discussed her personal battle.

This is not a beauty or makeup post, so I'm putting this at the top to save time for anyone interested purely in beauty blogging.

Ironically, this post comes from reading Glamour's year-end beauty special edition. It features a pictorial of actress/singer Demi Lovato: Her makeup is gorgeous, largely because it represents a makeunder. Gone is the bright, almost garish, makeup she sported a few years ago as a Disney  actress. The makeup artist kept her face as bare as possible while adding a radiant, slightly bronzed look. The idea was to present her in a way that was naked and truthful.

In the article, Lovato talks about going through a mental breakdown and seeking treatment. The article heralds her for never trying to gloss over her hiatus. Lovato admitted that the honesty was both cathartic and painful: Being extremely truthful about your battles exposes you to all sorts of reactions. She also quickly learned who her friends are.

In 2010, I broke apart. Just writing this brings the memory to the present in painful detail. Numerous personal and professional traumas (and I mean traumas, but for legal reasons, I can't explain) turned into a perfect storm. In time, I didn't feel like I inhabited my own body anymore. Eventually, I sought professional help in the form of a week-long stay a facility that treats people who are battling social anxiety all the way to those who have eight personalities and a personal review of every mental health facility in the state.

Through the process, I lost a relationship that I'd once considered one of my closest. And the irony of it all is it's the very person who once advised me to seek help. I was recently told she considers me "too emotional" and has decided I don't belong in her life. In the thick of this, she told someone she'd deal with me when I was fine again, but not in the state I was in. To demonize someone who opts out of your life is easy: It is harder to try to understand that person is maybe fighting her own battles..

I also learned I have some amazing friends who are so kind and compassionate: I now know this with absolute certainty and in a way I never would have had I told them I was fine. They treated me like the person they'd always known - just a sadder version who needed them more. I love and appreciate them more than I ever would've had life stayed sunny. And I would turn my world upside down to be there for them in return.

When life gets hard - and it can for any of us in a breakneck moment - we have a choice about being honest, with ourselves and with others. Even for those who have no history of depression or anxiety, their emotions and mind can break down if enough trauma overloads them. In other words, it's a little like cancer and can strike anyone.

My honesty cut both ways, but in the end, it has been the very thing that helped me recover..