V- is very very Extraordinary

Do what you want to do while you can still do it. Go to concerts, see live music. Experience what it feels like to be part of something. Travel. Get in a car and just drive. Stay in motels and eat shitty continental breakfast and then keep going. Skip a night of studying to go to a party. Dance on the table. Just do it. Wear what you want to wear. Put glitter all over your face if that’s what you’re feeling. Dye your hair yellow. Be kind, please be kind. Hold doors open, compliment someone. Make people happy to be alive. Be happy to be alive. Fall in love, get your heart broken and then fall in love again. Eat whatever the hell you want, regardless of the calories. Move cities. Take a walk in nature and clear your head. Listen to the music that you like and don’t be ashamed of it, ever. Stay out late and barely make it through your morning shift or 8am class. Be kind to animals. Pay for your friends drinks. Over-tip your server, or your bartender. Lose the negative influences in your life. If your job is making you unhappy, leave. Free your mind. Feed your soul. Write about it. Take photos, take lots of photos. Make art, make love and make peace. Call your friends, call your family. Talk to people on the phone. Tell the people you love that you love them. All of the time, whenever you can. Have fun. Have lots and lots of fun. Coming out of the worst part of my depression, I’ve been able to experience these things again and I cannot tell you enough how amazing it feels to be human. In a weird way, I think I can feel these things a hundred times more immensely because it’s been so long since I’ve been able to feel anything other than down. Appreciate life, please try to. Recognize when you are happy and immerse yourself in your own emotions. This is important. Do. What. You. Love.

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.