Back turned from the antsy group of incoming freshman, wearing flip flops against the toe-numbing cold, Crystal attempted conversation with her peers. Her confidence infectious and her posture square with warm energy. Her self-assured attitude was fueled by her determination to acknowledge her past OCD yet not let it define her.

Finding comfort in friends comes with both positives and negatives, as Crystal discovered. Although she found reassurance in the knowledge that she was not the only one dealing with OCD, Crystal choose to take a different approach to overcoming the issue than her friend did.

Crystal tells she believes her former friend resorted to drugs as a form of comfort and is proud that she took another route and went to stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Expressively discussing what a refreshing change the accepting environment at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin was from the gossipy tendencies of her middle school in Pleasanton, she believes her time there was worthwhile. Even while the exposure therapy, a process in which one tries to conquer their fear by constantly surrounding themselves with what used to disturb them, was painful and stressful, in the end helped her overcome her problems.

Crystal’s OCD forced her to count objects obsessively and place her shoes in only one such fashion. Crystal slipped out of her flip flops and placed them directly in front of her side by side and then proceeded to kick them in different directions to demonstrate that it fails it bother her anymore. And then left to collect them again after getting a bewildered expression from a passing freshman.

Unlike the high-stress attitudes she was exposed to in the past, Crystal plans to relax and embrace the low-stress environment at San Francisco State University. With the knowledge she learns in the university she plans to share her experience and not keep it hidden to herself. Instead, she plans to spread her understanding and use her experience to help others in a place similar to Rogers.