You might be wondering what this is all about. Well, it’s about you; it’s for you because you matter and what you will do next in your life, after reading this is all within your discretion. You, who have been braving all challenges to stay afloat. Who have been tirelessly striving to finish your studies. You, who have been working so hard just to make sure you bring food on the table and sleep soundly at night with your family. This is a letter for you.
When things don’t seem to work the way we expect them to, we feel down and beaten. We ask questions to the air hoping for answers. We take our time to recover and get back up, and when we do, we start over again – back to square one. Such is life, eh?
But there will be times, and I’ll tell you there will be tons if you didn’t get the memo when we can’t just seem to make things work or do anything at all. Nothing is going right despite our exhaustive efforts. We feel paralyzed, and our brains seem to choose to take a vacation somewhere. If you ever experienced those or are experiencing them now, may this little letter find you well.
If you expect life to be easy, plain, and simple, it isn’t. Life is filled with challenges and difficulties. Do you need to be reminded why you are carrying on? That one’s simple: it’s worth it. It’s. All. Worth. It. They say you never live your life fully when you never stumble, never commit mistakes, or never fail on certain things. They say that these make us stronger and ready for the things to come.
The ‘what ifs.’
But what if you are simply weak – constantly feeling powerless and losing the will to carry on? With no motivations in place, you let yourself get sucked by the quicksand of submission. You frown and drown yourself with the idea of you not making anything worthwhile. You tell yourself you can’t do anything, so you’d just go back to bed, hide under the sheets, and sulk until you stop feeling anything.
Get up, sunshine! Easier said than done, but you have to take that dreaded first step you have been trying to take but kept making excuses to do so. No one else will take it for you. No one else will do it for you. This is one of those battles you have to face on your own. Take it and see where it’ll lead you. For now, drop your excuses and start moving. It doesn’t have to be a big leap. Muster all the strength and courage you can grasp for one single lift.
You will fail multiple times. You will stumble and cry, and that’s okay. When you fall, cry but make it all at once. When you’re done, try again. Our lives are filled with backbreaking obstacles. If it were a maze, you would never get to the end of it unless you start walking. So, go! Take that first step. Choose to move forward, even when moving is difficult. Stand up, especially when standing up, is the hardest. You got this. You may not know it yet, but people are rooting for you. Don’t ever think that you are alone because you are not, literally and figuratively. You just need to know where to go to find help.
Breathe
One of the best lines I’ve heard in a movie is probably this quote from Professor Dumbledore. In the first installment of the Harry Potter series, he said, “Help will always be given to those who ask for it.” This is true even in a religious context. Matthew 7:7 quotes, “Ask, and it will be given to you.” But what’s really striking about the quote is it journeys up to the final installment of the Harry Potter series and evolved into something else. Professor Dumbledore said, “Help will always be given…to those who deserve it.”
Sometimes, the very act of asking is also difficult since there’d be times when we do not know what we have to ask for or what help we actually need. Trust that while you may not know it yet, soon you will. Until you figure it out, carry on. Just keep moving forward. I know it’s hard, but just because you can’t find help right now or you feel no one is around to help you doesn’t mean you’ll stop altogether. If there is anything, it should give you more reasons to push forward. Maybe you can’t find help because there is none from where you are at. So take a step forward; it could get you closer to finding a lifeline, if not entirely get to where you want to go.
Hang tight and carry on
We all encounter challenges in life. We all face our demons every day. There will be days when we celebrate a win and days that would sweep us back to zero. We learn to live with some of our demons, and that’s one good reminder that life is not perfect. It is also a reminder that despite our imperfections, our bad sides, and questionable decisions, life still leaves us with something that no one can take away from us – the choice to take a step forward, whichever way we choose to go.
Every day, life gives you full liberty to take yourself where you can put on a good fight. If it gets hard, that’s good! It means you are being challenged to be a better version of yourself. Take care of yourself the way you’d take care of others. When you feel tired, don’t beat yourself up. Give yourself a tap on the back. Funny, it may seem, but you wouldn’t feel tired if you’re not doing something.
So, it’s okay. Feel tired, cry if you must, just always remember when to stop and get back up. When you do, come back stronger. You have everything you need to succeed and live a dignified life, but you have to work for it. Remember, help is always given to those who deserve it. But even when you feel like you don’t, know that you are built for anything this life will throw on you. So breathe, hang tight, and carry on.
