Life can be hard. We all know that. Everyone has something that they struggle with. It might be something small compared to what someone else is going through, but it’s not small to that person struggling with it.
God created all of us differently and uniquely. We all handle things differently, our internal struggles are all different, our thought process is different, our view and opinions are different, so while what you friend is going through right now might be smaller than your own battles, it is N O T small to them.
What matters is how we get through our own struggles. You can’t just look at the wall your struggles make, and think ‘oh, I can’t get over that. Might as well just give up.’
N O! Don’t give up!
I struggled with depression for a long time. I had a lot of thoughts of suicide.
One thing that helped me, surprisingly enough, was a movie called The Giver. If you haven’t seen this movie, I would recommend watching it. It will give you a new look at life, and help you realize what you have. And what it would be like if you didn’t have it.
Imagine a life with no color. No music. No pain. No love. No books. No differences. Everything the same…
Imagine having that, then look at the world around you. We have color. We have tastes. We have music. We love our friends, our family, our boyfriends/girlfriends, our spouses. We dance. We learn. We hike. We skydive. We swim. We travel. We can talk about our emotions. We cry. We laugh.
We have L I F E!
This life is a G I F T!
Don’t waste it!
Look at what you have and grab onto that! Don’t let the people you love go. Don’t let yourself slip away from the people who love you. Is there something you’ve wanted to learn? Go learn it. Find an app. Find a Youtube video. Take a class. Read a book. Learn that new thing.
Throw yourself into learning all you can about this life. Maybe learn about a new culture. Make a meal from a different country. Learn how to do a dance. Write a letter to your future self, and make sure you don’t open it till some date in the future.
STAY ALIVE TO READ THAT LETTER!
This was something big for me. I was really struggling one day with my depression, so I wrote myself a letter. I’ll be 28 by the time I open that letter. I asked myself a million questions, but most of all, my 18 year old self told my 28 year old self that I hope she was still alive. I hoped she was the one reading that letter, with my messy handwriting filling the pages between her fingers.
But… I said that if my 28 year old self wasn’t around to read that letter, to whoever was reading it, I told them what I went through. What I struggled with. What it was that made me feel the way I did. Who I loved, last words I wanted to say. It wasn’t quite a goodbye letter. It was a letter I wanted to look forward to opening and reading it when I was older. I want to be able to answer the million questions I wrote down. I want to laugh at the memories they bring back, and cry at my handwriting.
And even though I’m getting better, I don’t know what will come around the corner of NW Life street. Maybe something will happen to me before I turn 28, this can be something to leave for my family.
Write a letter to your future-self, then don’t touch it till the date you’ve written on the envelope.
I used to think that that I didn’t matter. That I was worthless. That there was no reason for me to be alive. That no one would care if I left. That this pain was too great to bear.
But that was W R O N G!
I DO matter! I AM worth it! There IS a reason for me to be alive! A LOT of people would care if I left! This pain ISN’T so great that I cannot get through it!
Don’t go down that path. Don’t let those thoughts stay in your head. Don’t let them take root in your mind. Don’t let them take control of your life!
FIND A REASON TO LIVE! If you are struggling with life and see no point to it, JUST. FIND. SOMETHING!
Is there one thing you enjoy in school? Throw yourself into that.
Is it volunteering somewhere? Throw yourself into that.
Is it your work? Throw yourself into that.
Is it working out? Throw yourself into that.
Is it raising your children? Throw yourself into that.
Find that thing you love, and work on it. Everyday. Don’t forget the love you have for that. If you have nothing else to focus on, focus on that. Let that become your anchor, so when you become focused on that thing, and it keeps you here in this world, then you can start to heal. You’ll be here, on this earth, so you can heal. You can't heal from your earthly pain if your dead. You can’t make yourself a better person, if you’re not here to do that. You can’t come out of your struggles as the victor, if you give up halfway through the fight.
Stay. Here.
Do not let what the devil is whispering in your mind to overcome you.
Do not let the lies he is planting in your head win.
Do not let him take control of your life, because he only wants the things that will hurt you, that will destroy you, that will take you down a path that you might not come back from.
Is that what you want? You want to believe the lies? You want to keep living in the pain of believing that you don’t matter? Really? You just love the sleepless nights, the feeling of being lost, the… pain that can never be described with words… You want that? Please tell me you don’t want that…
The devil is only here to kill, steal and destroy. He is killing your dreams. He is stealing your joy. And he is destroying your life.
But, don’t let him win. When those ugly whispers start pouring into your ears again,
SHUT THEM OUT!
FIND A WAY TO TELL HIM TO SHUT UP!
Find something that will keep your eyes open so that you CAN see the lies he gives you. He paints things over with colors that we like, and then we fall into his traps and start to live there. We see the little truths he uses to weave into his lies, making us believe them. And when we fall into them… it’s hard to get out. And because it’s hard, we just decide to give up. To stop trying to get out.
We live in a world of darkness, and we believe that it will never be light again. That the rocks have fallen down, trapping us in the dark tunnel, so that we can’t see the light at the end, or get out.
BUT NO! That’s FALSE! There IS a light! There is ALWAYS a light. And NOTHING can take that light away!
When the sun sets in the evening, and the sky gets dark, is it going to be dark forever? No. Because even in the dark… even in the black abyss of the night sky, there are stars. There are stars shining so bright that we can see them from here on earth. These stars are about 4.37 light-years away. Heck, I don’t even know how far a light-year is, but I can tell you, it’s F A R.
And we can see them! So don’t tell me there’s no light in the darkness!
“Well, there’s no light in my darkness.”
Yes there is. You just need to look outside yourself, look outside the pain, look outside the darkness that consumes your thoughts so much, and find a light.
Maybe it’s just talking with your best friend. Hugging a younger sibling. Talking with your mom. Going on a walk. Playing an instrument. Working on a craft. Just SOMETHING to lift your spirits. Something that will be a light.
I’ll say it again, there is always some sort of light. Don’t give up. Don’t bury yourself six feet under so that you can’t see the stars anymore.
~Jessie
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