When You’re Struggling To Feel Okay, Read This

This is your reminder to stop and take a breath. And I do not just mean the way in which you simply let your lungs carry your chest up and down. I mean the kind of breath in which you take a step outside and fill up the space within your ribcage with the delicate paintings that are the morning sky. Fill up your heart with the curiosity and the comfort that lie embedded behind each shade and color inside the clouds. Notice how gracefully they dance away, taking the mornings away with them.

This is your reminder to breathe deeply through those tender moments, the kind that arise at the end of a long day and stick to your soul with weight. Remember to take each day as it comes and to breathe through the heaviness even when it feels as though it is weighing down the fragments of hope that you hold within. Breathe through the way it feels to have no idea where you are going or what your next step will be.

Find the beauty that exists inside the knowing that no matter where you end up, you are so guided, so loved, so cherished with every step you take. Find the beauty within having so much time to figure things out—within having so much time to explore your dreams and your passions and the things that stir something beautiful inside of you. And when you do, when you discover the things that feel like silk when you meet the humans who are like honey, do not let them go. Do not let them slip through your fingertips; instead, I need you to hold onto them with conviction, with so much strength and delicacy. I need you to cradle and to nurture them closely as you breathe deeply through this messy and magical journey.

This is your reminder to be kinder to yourself. A reminder to be gentle with your heart as you wake up to the mornings that grip at your chest with worry and stress and fear. A reminder to carefully unhinge that grip ever-so-slightly and know you are doing your best. Believe me, I know that some days your best might look like going out into the world with outstretched arms and a warm smile, or it will look like having a surge of motivation glide through your bones, even when fear is sitting right beside you. Even when it is demanding to be felt. And other days, your best will look like small celebrations after building up the strength to climb out of bed, or it will look like the way in which you cradle your trembling fingertips as you try to make sense of the days that feel messy, of the days that feel all over the place. But please, have the courage to understand that to feel your feelings is a brave thing to do, and I am proud of you. Have the courage to trust—to trust yourself, to trust in the divine timing of where you are. Trust that things do get better, that everything is going to work out perfectly for you, that you are going to be okay.

This is your reminder to believe in who you are, to believe in who you are becoming. To put yourself first and to be selfish when it comes down to your heart, when it comes down to your wellbeing. To fall in love with the journey of falling in love with yourself, to take the time to sit and to be still inside the present moment, to cherish and to nurture the body you are in, the body that is your home. I hope you remind yourself to take that leap, to dive deeper into connection, into conversation, into the things that hug at your ribcage and soften your heartstrings. Dive deeper into the hearts of those who hold you close, who inspire your growth and who no matter what choose you every single time. Dive into the hearts of those who are not perfect but who add to the happiness you bring into this world, who add to the wholeness you are made up of. I hope you remind yourself to follow your dreams, to let your intuition guide you through on your journey and to listen to your gut always. And I hope you remind yourself to show up for the things and the people who leave your soul burning with passion, who leave you enveloped in inspiration to become a better person for your own future, for the people around you.

But most importantly, for yourself.