To any woman out there, stress is not just something that can be easily gotten over but society can demand near perfection of us and most women want to show a strong face to the world, even in the face of overwhelming stress when the world seems to be crumbling down around her.
The biggest piece of advice I could give any woman is to not ignore your feelings. Stress and society's demands can cause severe depression and anxiety disorders. The number of eating disorders has risen in recent years because of the people we see in the media who are supposed to be our role models wearing size 0 or 2. It's something that's been said over and over, that those are unrealistic body expectations and we should just ignore them. The fact of the matter is, it's not that easy and seeking help is mandatory if you have an unhealthy body image.
Depression is one of the most common illnesses affecting women today, but very ignored. Like I said before, we are expected to show a strong face to the world and that means depression goes under the radar. I struggle with major depression myself and at first my sadness was just whatever to people until I attempted suicide. DON'T LET IT GET TO THAT POINT!!! PLEASE, try to talk to anyone, anywhere about your feelings to get help. It's easier to let things go until they get to a pit of desperation but even harder than fighting it when the bad feelings come on, is getting back up from what can seem like rock bottom.
My basic point to all of you is this: Getting help for any sort of mental illness is not something to be ashamed of and that you aren't alone in horrible struggles... society can bring us down but we, as women, need to show that we can fight our mental illnesses and raise awareness to other women.