our era is wrecked. but that doesn't mean we don't have the power to fix it ♡

i read this text my matt haig a few years ago and, in that time, it meant the world to me. sometimes living is hard, i know that, but maybe it just takes a bit of love and empathy for it to get easier. for anyone who is going through a dark time, these are some reasons why you should stay alive:

• you are on another planet. no-one understands what you are going through. but actually, they do. you don’t think they do because the only reference point is yourself. you have never felt this way before, and the shock of the descent is traumatising you, but others have been here. you are in a dark, dark land with a population of millions.
• you hate yourself. that is because you are sensitive. pretty much every human could find a reason to hate themselves if they thought about it as much as you did. we’re all total bastards, us humans, but also totally wonderful.
• minds have their own weather systems. you are in a hurricane. Hurricanes run out of energy eventually. hold on.
• nothing lasts forever. this pain won’t last. the pain tells you it will last. pain lies. ignore it.
• ”your mind is a galaxy. more dark than light. but the light makes it worthwhile. Which is to say, don’t kill yourself. even when the darkness is total. always know that life is not still. Time is space. you are moving through that galaxy. wait for the stars.”
• you will one day experience joy that matches this pain. you will cry euphoric tears at the beach boys, you will stare down at your baby daughter’s face as she lies contentedly asleep in your lap, you will make great friends, you will eat delicious foods you haven’t tried yet, you will be able to look at a view like this one and feel the beauty, there are books you haven’t read yet that will enrich you, films you will watch while eating extra large buckets of popcorn, and you will dance and laugh and have sex and go for runs by the river and have late night conversations and laugh until it hurts. Life is waiting for you. you might be stuck here for a while, but the world isn’t going anywhere. hang on in there if you can. Life is always worth it.

thank you, matt original text