Photo taken by contributor Renée, a 28-year-old woman who has lived through psychosis. Three year ago, her world came crashing down. She was starting a new job, trying to make new friends, and looking for the good in people. Stress led to not sleeping and not taking care of herself, body and mind. She ended up becoming an involuntary patient in a psychiatric hospital for three months at three different places. She couldn’t trust anyone or anything.

About this photo: “I got this tattoo because a year after I went into psychosis I found out my Mom had cancer. I wanted to get something to remind myself to stay strong NO MATTER WHAT. I wasn’t going back into the psych ward, I wasn’t about to let my stress get the best of me again. Sometimes it helps to distance yourself from the stress and revisit it when you write it out, draw it out, cry it out. Whatever helps.”

Find more from Renée at her Instagram @twistedpassion.

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