Here are the facts:

Life is hard. No matter how much positive thinking you think, silver linings you find, or cute puppy photos you search up, sometimes life just sucks. And it doesn’t seem to stop sucking. It goes on, and on, and on, kicking you while you’re down. In short, things just aren’t okay. And you don’t see how you could ever go on living in a life that’s not okay.

I’m here to tell you, you can. Stay with me here. I may not know your situation, or what made you want to read this, but I do have some things I want to tell you. The thing about life is, it goes on. Time just keeps ticking by, sun rises and the sun sets, again and again, even when you feel like you’re unable to get out of bed in the morning. This is the beauty of life. No matter how you feel, or what unsurmountable thing is happening, time continues on regardless. This time period will end. I know it looks like it won’t, but it will. It always does.

Your life will change, you will change, your circumstances will change. The clouds will part, bringing in the light once again. Until then, just feel the pain. You don’t have to shy away from it, you don’t have to worry about making yourself feel happy. Pain demands to be felt.

So, feel it. Feel it hard. And eventually, as is the way of life, it won’t hurt so much anymore.

You are not a failure because life isn’t okay. You are a survivor precisely because you continue fighting even when the storm rages on and on, with no end in sight. But – there is an end. So, just fight through the pain, until you feel the joy. The only thing that isn’t acceptable is giving up. But other than that, please don’t let others tell you how to deal with the pain that life throws at you. You are in control of your own life and how you present yourself to the world.

Things may happen to you, but they do not define you.

You define yourself. You define how you treat others, how you treat yourself, and how you react to your situations. Please don’t feel powerless, because you have so much control, even when things are spinning away from you. You may not have control over others, but you have control over you.

You are your own boss, with a mind, body, and soul, and that is a blessing.

I promise you, there is so much joy to be felt. Just give it some time. Have some patience, because you are strong. You are a fighter. I believe in you.

You will survive. Please, please, trust in your abilities. Please trust in your heart’s ability to heal and survive. It has already survived so much. Your success rate for surviving things that you thought would kill you is 100 percent. That statistic alone is bound to give you some comfort. Things are going to work out.

You are going to be okay. I’m sure of it.

You are going to be okay, even when life just really isn’t.