It Gets Better

Troian Bellisario

Hello Everyone, I recently told everyone about some things that happened in high school and thought I would share it in here also.

I started self-harming when I was a junior. I would withhold food or withhold going out with my friends, based on how well I did that day in school. I didn't know what was right and what was wrong, so I think I created this bizarre system of checks and balances to create order in my world. But it really backfired.

When I'm on set, I usually feel like an imposter. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying too hard, like I don't belong. I just look around at Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, and Ashley Benson, and I'm just like, 'Why am I on this show?'

I'm not like these other girls. I don't dress like that and don't know how to do my hair. The minute I'm off that stage, I try to get as 'me' as possible. I do that by piling on my black eyeliner, and I put on my ripped tights. Dressing like myself again helps.

Whenever I feel down now, I remember all the love that I share with those around me. My friends and my family - the people who I love and who love me back. Whenever I get down, when I want to crawl under a rock, I just look around at them and I see how rich my life is,You have to remember what's most important in life. I am loved by so many people and have a wonderful job. I know I'm incredibly blessed. I am a completely lucky human being.

I knew that going into an article that was going to be the cover of Seventeen they were going to ask me, 'What was your life like when you were 17?' So I had to make the choice of do I just completely lie and say my life was great and totally perfect? And is that really gonna help the men and women out there who watch my show who are 17? Is that gonna help? Or is gonna be better for me to be honest and do something a little bit scarier and try to talk a little bit about that? I kinda made a choice and now I'm going with it.

My name is Troian Bellisario and that's my high school story. Things got better in life for me. I became stronger and I believe all of you can become strong too.

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A bunch of the information from this I got from Seventeen so thank you to that wonderful magazine.