You are not a failure
You are not a waste
You are loved
You are wanted
I believe in you
May is mental health awareness, and lately my brain has taken a bit to process that. This one took a little more courage to write, because it was full of vulnerability, on a tougher day for me, but it needs to be said. Mental health is a conversation we tend to avoid, we want to feel like we have it all together. This makes the important conversations become few and far in between. We feel ashamed, confused, or maybe even insecure to admit that we are struggling.
As a person who has experienced two sides of it, one side being myself feeling the feeling of anxiety, the feeling of thoughts you can't control, and the feelings of confusion, and the other side being watching it take a good friend of mine, I can most definitely say that focusing on mental health is a scary thing. The important thing that I take away though is that it is a process, it is not a final stop. Everything could be going perfect, and it can put a cloud on things, which can sometimes just be hard to explain, so we resort back into our shell and we do not "bother" others. But, what does that do for us? Make us look strong? No, all it does is force the battle to be fought alone, and it shouldn't be. That is why they always say, even the ones who are constantly smiling and laughing have their own battles, you just never know what anyone is going through.
Mental illness does not make you weak, and (I cannot stress this enough) it is okay to not always be okay. Last night, I was just sitting with a friend watching the sunset, and I started to think about the beautiful things in life that we forget to cherish, but then I started to also think about the things that hurt yet both scenarios mean we are alive and we get to feel the world. The world today is hard, there are things life throws at us that are hard, and we want to pretend to be strong and smile through it, but sometimes we just can't. Life is not about the stresses, the anxieties, the heartbreaks, the flaws, the fears, even though sometimes it is hard to avoid them. Life is about those around you, the adventures we embark on, the people who make you laugh and smile, the moments we never want to end, and the things that just make you feel alive.
Last year I got a tattoo of alive, simply to remind me that people want me here, because one of my favorite quotes said this, " I enjoy life when things are happening, I don't care anymore if those things are good or bad. It means I am alive." That is a beautiful thing, to just be here in this day.
For a moment, take your hand, put it on your heart and just take it in. There is purpose to your life in that simple beat right there. So, for those of you who have had a rough year, I am overjoyed that you are still here. You matter, to so many, you matter to me. There are lives that would be empty without you here, the world would feel a little duller. You are loved.
Through it all, we cannot forget to tell those we love what they mean to us, and spread positivity. You never know what people are going through, and who may need that extra push.
It is okay to not be okay. You are deeply loved though.
Depression Hotline: 1-844-549-4266
Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
