To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

I see you. I've been you. I am you.

You may feel invisible, but you're not. You may feel worthless, but you're not. You may feel helpless, but you're not. You may feel alone, but you're not.

There are moments where you feel you might as well evaporate into thin air and disappear. And there are moments where you wish you could. There are times where you rock yourself to sleep in between great, heaving sobs, wondering why you were put on this earth and what your purpose for existing could possibly be. If it's even worth sticking around to find out.

To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

Hold on. You will find your place. You will find where you are accepted; loved, even.

But first, you have to start with yourself.

There are moments where you wish you could just stop the world for a little while and breathe, because the weight of trying to deal with everything is crushing the air out of you. Then there are also moments where you wish time would simply fly by, because the agony of waiting for it to pass is excruciating. But no matter what, you're always wishing to be anywhere but the present, because the effort it takes to simply be is incredibly taxing.

To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

I know what it's like. I know what it's like to feel like no one cares. To feel like no one bothers to listen. To feel like your words fall from your lips into the air, hang there for a moment, and then dissipate, forever forgotten. To feel like your emotions are numbed because acting impervious to life's little hurts is the best defense you've managed to discover. To wonder whether it is worth it to let your eyes open in the morning, or to simply keep them shut and hope the world outside decides to continue to spin on without you. To be certain that it would.

I know what it's like to want to simply vanish; to erase yourself from existence because this seems the only logical way to stop the agony from attacking you. To have to put up a facade for the rest of the world; a smiling face with no real emotion behind it; a fabricated happiness woven out of strands of deceit and desperation. I know what it's like to lie awake listening to the rise and fall of your body as you breathe, wondering what it would be like to just cease being. To want nothing more than to become nothingness.

To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

Stay strong. There is a light waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. There is a beautiful sunrise waiting for you after the torrential storm.

There is your whole life waiting to be lived.

There are innumerable friends that you will make because of your unique laugh, or your quirky sense of humor, or your razor sharp wit, or your kind and friendly demeanor. There are countless experiences that you will have; whether frightening, exhilarating, boring, infuriating, mystifying, life-changing, there is so much emotion in store for you on the roller coaster ride of life. There are moments where you will laugh until you cry and cry until you laugh. There are times where you will have to pick up the pieces of others' lives and then help to put them back together and others where you will have to trust yourself enough to do the same for your own. There are moments of pure ecstasy, of joy, of happiness, of euphoria. There are also moments of absolute devastation, of despondency, of sadness, of heartache beyond heartache. There are times where you will feel your heart beating a violent tattoo in your throat as you throw yourself completely into the unknown, hoping that someone will be there to catch you. There are times where no one will. There will also be times where there seem to be infinite arms stretched out to save you, waiting to cradle you close and protect you from any harm.

To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

You are so much more than no one. You are someone who has never existed before and will never exist again. You are a unique blend of characteristics that will never be found in an exact carbon copy in one single other human being. You are the way your eyes crinkle up at the corners when you smile. You are the way you throw your head back when you laugh because you get so caught up in it. You are the way your chest swells and seems like it almost might explode from the force of the pride you feel in your accomplishments. You are the little oddities about you that make you stand out in a crowd. You are your unabashed belief in what you think is right and wrong. You are the way you stand up for someone who is not capable of doing the same for themselves. You are the way you offer a helping hand to all those who need it. You are the tears that spring to your eyes when you see injustice. You are the nights spent watching the stars slowly start to appear in the sky and the mornings watching the sun's rays light up the world. You are so special.

You are you.

And that is amazing.

To everyone who has ever felt like no one:

You are so much more than that. You are someone.