i. your mouth is full of glass cuts. speak a little bit more gently about yourself. it will take a while before everything heals, before you stop adding âiâm an idiot,â âiâm ugly,â âiâm terrible,â to everything. one day, your jokes will be less about death and more about love. one day, if you do this, you will stop tasting blood.
ii. a gentle hand does not mean a weak spine; be kind but let no person steal from your light.
iii. when you are sad, dress like you are going to the red carpet, drag yourself out of bed, and buy yourself a picnic. eat it outside if you can. sit on the living room couch in your beautiful body and watch netflix. look good because it makes you feel good, and you deserve it.
iv. when you dress up for someone else, you are not shameful. if they do not notice, it is not due to your failure.Â
v. time is slippery. twenty-four hours doesnât have to begin at midnight. your new day can start whenever youâd like.
vi. the moon understands when no one else will.
vii. run towards what you want with open arms. it is okay if you have to put dreams in your pocket while your life demands differently from you. but come back to it. never really leave it. every night, if you can, revisit it.
viii. love is not always romantic.
ix. you count more than the calories ever will. you matter more than the size that you wear.Â
x. you donât always need to be in one piece. itâs okay to sometimes be unhappy. itâs okay to cry. itâs okay to get up and leave. just make sure that every day, you find at least one good thing.Â
xi. sing, and read, and write poetry. draw things. create madly. create until your hands are ringing. keep going.
xii. mistakes will happen, and you are not made of them. throw out the things that make you feel sick, keep everything you wrote about it. clear your head. clean your room. do something that makes you feel successful.
xiii. what has failed to kill you: everything. despite everything that tried, you are still alive.
xiv. pack a snack.
xv. when all else fails, love yourself harder. when you are stressed beyond measure, when your boss is an asshole, when you canât breathe, when the things in your brain get angry: love yourself. love yourself so loud that it drowns everything else out. set your goals like gold before you, dig in your claws. you deserve what you want, and you can fight to get it to come to you. love yourself furiously. love yourself tenderly. love yourself even if it feels wrong or ironic or tenuously. love yourself through the heartbreaks and small wounds and big gaping holes. love yourself. itâs how youâll always have home.