Take a moment and breathe in and out. Take another breath, deeper this time. Now, close your eyes (after you read this, of course) and think about your week. Think about all the times you smiled. Now think about your month as a whole. Think about that person who held the door open for you or complimented your outfit. Here’s the big one: Think about last year. 2015. You have undoubtedly gone through moments of depression, moments of anxiety and complete hopelessness. Yet, here you are; breathing, living and existing. You have made it so far, and who is there to thank for this? You.
How many times did you wish to give up? How many times were you sobbing and completely broken? How did it feel to have your heart broken? Have your world pulled out from right under your feet? Unbearable. Cold. Lonely. Frustrating. Remember venting about all of your problems? Your homework load, your crazy exam schedule, friend drama (because when isn’t there friend drama), matters of unrequited love, stress from clubs or activities, rehearsals, practices, endless studying, missing home. You thanked them for letting you ramble. There were times when you didn’t even know if you were going to make it through the day without a breakdown. In fact, there were days when something as simple as dropping your pencil made you start tearing up.
Your friends could tell that something was up, so they offered up ideas to get your mind off of things. Once you were out, you felt that you could relax and let go of what was eating away at you. You maintained the YOLO attitude and you could finally feel the tension go away — at least for a little while. The next morning, you realized how much fun you had and how much it was needed. You thanked your friends and carried on.
Here’s where I say that you take a second and rewind. Yes, your friends care for you, and they should be thanked for cheering you up or for letting you vent. But, when you go home at night, you are the one that has to sit with your thoughts. You are the one that has to will yourself forward. They can’t force you to keep going. You have to learn to thank yourself for loving yourself and treating yourself. You are so allowed to stop worrying about things that honestly will not matter a year from now.
You have to thank yourself for picking you up off the ground. You have to thank yourself for being the better person in a pointless dispute, even if the other person didn’t see it that way. You have to thank yourself for working extremely hard in school, by allowing yourself to go out. Give yourself some credit! Life can be crazy and hectic and completely stressful and unfair, but here you are working your butt off and smiling through it all. You must thank yourself for being original and unique and creative and smart and passionate and all of the other things that make you who you are. At the end of the day, you are all you’ve got. Thank yourself by eating that cookie dough, sleeping in that extra half an hour and watching another episode on Netflix. You are exceptionally strong. You’re still here. You have made it. And thank God, or whoever you believe in, that you woke up this morning, in order to live a life that was meant to be anything but ordinary.
