“Stay close to the things that make you feel alive. Listen to your favorite song on repeat. Watch the sunset. Fall asleep to the sound of rain. Build a pillow fort. Let the sunshine from the window pour over you. Gaze up at the stars and count as many as you can until you lose count. Binge your favorite t.v. show. The smell of old books, daytime moons, that feeling of deja vu, thrift shops, long car rides. It’s the little things in life that make everything worthwhile. And when you feel like you wanna give up, when you feel so alone that the aching in your chest won’t go away, when you convince yourself that you don’t matter, try and remember this: There are so many foods you have not tasted. Books you haven’t read. Songs and albums you have never heard and fell in love with. Words you never even knew existed. Spices you have never smelled. Cities you have never explored and gotten lost in. People you have never met. Maybe you don’t love yourself. Maybe you hate the way you look. Maybe you’ve said something you shouldn’t have. Maybe you miss someone. Maybe you’ve lost someone. Maybe it feels like the world is against you and that you can’t do anything right and that it would be better off if you just disappeared. You are here right now. That’s all that matters. What you have done, what you have said, what you have felt, it doesn’t matter. Your mistakes, your fears, they do not define you. You are alive. You are still standing. Your heart’s still beating. The sun still shines in the morning. The rain still falls from the sky. The flowers still bloom in the spring. The world goes on, despite everything. You have survived through everything you have ever went through, gotten over every hurdle they have placed before you. Don’t give up now.”
— fabuliz, writing prompt #64: write 5-10 things you can do to better your mental health.
