Being physically fit doesn't mean anything if the mind isn't fit and being fit in the mind is not worth much if the body is suffering.

I want to destigmatize the words mental illness.

Feel the power of your legs, hear the orchestra playing, see the audience - anything to make the image more real. The image has to be specific. You can't just say to yourself, 'I'll do my best.' You have to have a mental blueprint of that role in your mind.

Please don't mistake who I am for who the character is.

I recommend a balance between the therapies that are available, the medicines that are available but not to give up on the body as a result.

For people with mental illness, taking care of the body is not an automatic thing. The mind is in such chaos it's hard to come up with a plan. So to people like us, it's more important than ever to follow a regimen.

My quality of life is more amazing than I ever could've imagined in those 20 years of struggling with illness. In those 20 years, I did not know the meaning of the word hope. It was just a bleak, difficult existence. With all the gifts, with all the successes that I had, it was still an incredibly bleak way of living and I want to be a messenger of hope.