The past year has been especially tough for me. When I am down, sometimes it helps me to seek out quotes that emanate positivity. I keep a tag on my Tumblr called "note to self," containing a plethora of uplifting quotes that encourage me to continue surviving. Here are a few of them.

1. "It is what it is. It was what it was. It will be what it will be. Don’t stress it." — Unknown

2. "You cannot know strength unless you were once vulnerable. You cannot know strength unless you were once broken. One needs to exist to make the other true. I know my strength because of surviving what I’ve been through." — amibiguities

3. "If you’re reading this, if there’s air in your lungs on this November day, then there is still hope for you. Your story is still going. And maybe some things are true for all of us. Perhaps we all relate to pain. Perhaps we all relate to fear and loss and questions. And perhaps we all deserve to be honest, all deserve whatever help we need. Our stories are all so many things: Heavy and light. Beautiful and difficult. Hopeful and uncertain. But our stories aren’t finished yet. There is still time, for things to heal and change and grow. There is still time to be surprised. We are still going, you and I. We are stories still going." — Jamie Tworkowski

4. "I gave myself permission to feel and experience all of my emotions. In order to do that, I had to stop being afraid to feel. In order to do that, I taught myself to believe that no matter what I felt or what happened when I felt it, I would be okay." — Iyanla Vanzant

5. "Most people carry that pain around inside them their whole lives, until they kill the pain by other means, or until it kills them. But you, my friends, you found another way: a way to use the pain. To burn it as fuel, for light and warmth. You have learned to break the world that has tried to break you." — Lev Grossman

6. "Sometimes, you go through something and it hurts and you don’t know if things are ever going to be okay again. But then days go by and you don’t feel like crying and you wonder what it means that you’re fine. You think maybe you’re ignoring your emotions and that they’ll come back out of nowhere. Until you’re driving home from work, singing along to the radio and wondering what you’ll have for dinner, and you realize you’re happy. Maybe that thing didn’t break you because you’re stronger than that. Maybe you can survive anything. Maybe you finally want to." — Unknown

7. "Does the sun ask itself, “Am I good? Am I worthwhile? Is there enough of me?” No, it burns and it shines. Does the sun ask itself, “What does the moon think of me? How does Mars feel about me today?” No it burns, it shines. Does the sun ask itself, “Am I as big as other suns in other galaxies?” No, it burns, it shines." — Andrea Dworkin

8. "We need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened." — Mitch Albom

9. "Time will pass; these moods will pass; and I will, eventually, be myself again." — Kay Redfield Jamison

10. "It won’t be like this forever. One day you’ll wake up and this feeling will be gone and things won’t be completely un-broken but they’ll be okay." — Unknown