Dear stranger,
I want you to know I am here. I don’t know you and I can’t understand what you’re going through personally but I can understand the feeling of being stuck in a very dark tunnel.
I want you to know that you absolutely can and will get through this. We are all human and are flawed beings but you have a purpose and a reason to stay and I hope that my letter reaches you in time for you to know that you matter.
You might feel like the”black shadow”(that’s what I called my depression) is uncontrollable and I can only imagine the place you’re in right now but I want you to know that I hear you. I truly hear you and can empathize with your pain.
I do want to ask something of you though if that’s ok? Please do these 3 things if you can today as this small list helped save my life.
1. If you can go outside for just 5 minutes then please do. If it’s pouring of rain, stand in the street and stamp in a puddle. If it’s cloudy, try and make shapes from the clouds. If it’s sunny, just close your eyes and feel the heat on your skin. This helped to bring me back into the present especially when the black shadow kept me indoors and I couldn’t leave home for long periods of time.
2. Make yourself a warm drink. Be it a cup of coffee (this is my vice!) or a mug of tea but something that gives you some form of warming energy. I always found it a great comfort when I felt no one was around physically.
3. Call someone. Anyone. There were many times when I was on a brink and the last thing I wanted to do was speak to anyone I knew.
So I’d call a helpline and tell the person that I just needed someone to sit and listen on the end of a phone as I cried. Connection is so important right now so please reach out to find some in whatever capacity I wish I could meet you as I know that my letter is going to have gone to someone truly awesome.
I’m sending you all my positive energy and thinking of you but you got this.
Birdie x