To my fellow human,
How funny to think we may not ever cross paths on this floating rock that we share and call home, or maybe we have before, or maybe we live diagonally across from each other. Who knows.
All I know is that we’re only human and all we can do in this life is our best. I’m writing to you because you’re doing your best no matter what that looks like, no matter who you are, where you come from, your politics or lack of, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter, you’re just a human doing your best and that’s all anyone can ask of you.
Once upon a time my best was lying in bed all day on my phone, the dishes piling up downstairs, my room a mess and unable to face it all but I stayed, and eventually one day I was able to face the dishes and the room. Another time my best was hiding from society but doing Friday check-ins with my friends while folding laundry.
Another was crying so much. This is all to say that I stayed because I learned it always, always passes. Clouds may return or some not fully lift but I can now trust with all of my heart and think ‘I’ve been here before, I know this will pass and I am capable of making it through because I have done it before’.
A reason to stay is that you owe it to yourself, every version of you throughout your life until now, you owe it to future you to trust yourself that things will pass. Future you is in an hours time, tomorrow, five months away, ten years time or forty years time. Every stage of you has been loved by you even in the smallest of ways.
I once read the book ‘am I there yet? ‘ By Mari Andrews when I was in my early twenties. I still return to it and have recommended it to many. Don’t worry it’s not another self-help book! It looks like an illustrated child’s book but for adults.
She is a traveller and figuring out life as she goes. She crosses islands of anxiety and swims lochs of love and fails and wins and everything in between. One thing that stuck with me was when moving to a new place, the first thing you should do is find your favourite local cafe and go in every day for a week and order the same thing every day.
The barista will then know your face, your order, maybe even your name and you have made your first step into community. You don’t have to be moving cities, you can move to a new mental place. As a fellow human, I encourage you whether you already have a large community of friends and family around you or none at all, to try your best at this idea.
It is an exchange in which you make a difference in the world, in another persons day and they make a difference to yours. Human connection whether big or small is everything. Community, connections and just doing your best as a human are the most simple yet most powerful reasons to stay on this floating rock.
Most of the rest is just a farce. I will never know who you are, but I hope this letter made even a tiny difference. You are beautiful, you are known, you are loved, you are important, you are wanted and you are here. Stay with us.
All my care, luck and love
Molly x