This is a list. For hard days. For difficult days. For days when depression is kicking your ass.
The following are reminders for days like that.
1. Remember where you were last year, and look where you are now.
It can be so comforting to remember the person you have been. Remember what you’ve gone through, and when you were at your worst. Take a look at what you’ve endured, and how you’ve come out on the other end of things.
2. Be gentle with your weeping heart.
Assess how you’ve treated yourself today. When were you cruel to yourself? When was the world cruel to you? It’s okay to be a soft, squishy person, and it’s wonderful to love yourself and your sad heart. It’s okay to be tender and sensitive. Reward yourself for your perseverance, and be kind to yourself in spite of your shortcomings.
3. It’s okay to be sad!
There’s nothing wrong with being your own tragic heroine or hero today! It’s phenomenal to cry in public, to hide yourself in your room and wail the lyrics to your favorite sad song. You are not a failure for breaking. You are not less for aching.4. You deserve good things.
The world may currently be unkind to you. Maybe it feels like shitty things just don’t stop happening to you. But you deserve goodness. And you deserve kindness. You deserve joy. Your circumstances do not define you.
5. Healing is not easy.
Your trauma and your mental illness is a piece of you that you will learn and unlearn and heal from. And doing so will be a bitch. It might hurt a lot, but it’ll be so worth it. But that brings me to the next point:
6. Think about how excited you are to meet the person you are becoming.
You are growing into a person so many people will be so lucky to know, both months and years from now. You are working your way into becoming the person who will live to see many birthdays, and Christmases, and sunrises and sunsets. You are growing into the person who will wipe their own tears and pull themselves out of bed on the worst days. And best yet, you’re growing into the brilliant person who will leap out of bed on the best days. Who will be triumphant on their morning commute. Who will laugh and giggle and pet dogs and sing silly songs. How lucky you are to meet that person in the mirror.
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