You found me, or rather, I found you. You see, this message was meant for you.

I wrote this when I found myself, free on a beach and free in my mind. I let go of the things that weighed me down, like the sand in my pockets. The pain, the anxious thoughts and crippling fear that kept me from reaching my true potential, they’re like sand. Making its way into every familiar space, invading my comfort, my courage and my calm. I’m telling you, this sand kept me up at night it was so bad. I tossed and I turned in the worry and the wonder I brought home every day. It worked its way deeper into the crevices of my being, I swear even a shower couldn’t wash away this sand.

But don’t worry, I didn’t just stuff a dark diary entry of my dispositions into a bottle hoping I could throw them away into the ocean and forget about them. I threw this message in a bottle as an anthem to my triumphant accomplishment, in hopes that someone else might pick up this tune to sing during their victory lap.

You see, I beat the fear that held me back. I pushed the pain away like a boy standing up to his bully, purchasing a first class ticket for my fist to his stomach. Giving him his own vacation of fear, though only for a moment. Because I took my anxious thoughts and feelings and I remade them into the courage I once had. As if molding playdoh, I took what made me weak and remade it into courage in the form of an extended hand of amends.

I forgave my bully, surrendering my anxious doubt, letting my pain heal with time and choosing not to fear anymore. I resolved to make strides toward a brighter future where sand was only ever on beaches and not on people. Never making its way where it shouldn’t, I cast it out with two hands in my pockets pinching out the sand that had accrued, and sprinkled it back onto the very beach where you found this message in a bottle.

Know that you are never alone in your endeavors and that with everything you face, you don’t have to face it on your own. I finally learned that when the only sand left on me was the grains I had left in my hand to throw, and the sand beneath my feet which I have conquered. Someone else has gone through your same tribulations and made it out alive. So know that it is possible. It can be done. It's been done before.