The little things you should stay alive for
There was a point in my life, not all that long ago, where I had lost all hope, and I was desperately trying to cling on and find something worth living for. Because sometimes depression, or just a really tough period, feels so big, its so dense, and heavy. And sometimes "having hope" or believing that the storm will pass soon is not enough. Sometimes the promise of better days isn't enough to get you through the now.
A few months ago I came across a list online, from someone else grasping at straws and trying to find reasons to carry on, and it resonated with me. I loved it, and used that same strategy, it was just a list of little things that seem so silly in being able to help your low moods, but sometimes its the little things that we need. The bigger picture is too much to cope with. Trying to say "oh I'll be happier once I get out of my job" or "move house" "leave my toxic relationship" are heavy, dense things, they are big life changes that take a lot of energy to conjure up in your already very foggy mind. So this a little list of all the little moments that you should stay alive for.
This post also comes not too long after Caroline Flack's death. Something that has really, really, shaken me. I know she did wrong things, but she deserved better than this and her death has left this pang of guilt inside me for days, despite not contributing to any of the hate she has been given, I'm somehow left with a really heavy feeling inside of me and I really wanted to write something about it.
I see so many things going around about "being kind because you never know what goes on behind closed doors" but why is there never any other action than people retweeting a tweet with those words in? People are so cruel, and it is trendy to be cruel, it's trendy to be "savage" and "spill tea" on people and judge people for what they wear or what they do and it's not okay. It never has been okay but we are a society plagued with mental health right now and these things are killing people.
I'm not a Love Island fan but there's already been two suicides from that show, there was a photo going around Twitter of Molly Mae in a white swimsuit apparently being fat, whilst actually having a very slim body ???
As a society all we want to do is tear people down, and people are dying left, right and centre. They really are, and we need to stop being so cruel.
I don't know how many more wake up calls people need.
Someone dies and people preach about mental health and bullying all over the internet and then once it's blown over a few weeks down the line they're tweeting and trending about some girl who apparently has weird legs on TV!?
Then someone else dies and the cycle continues...
Anyway, here is my list of little pleasures that give you reasons to stay alive.
- Fresh bread
- Sunsets
- Long car rides
- Singing with your friends at the top of your lungs
- Drinking cheap wine and dancing in the kitchen
- Clean bed sheets and freshly shaven legs
- The feel of sand in your toes
- Those moments you feel completely infinite
- The smell of coffee
- Reading a book by a fire place
- Being in the ocean
- First kisses
- Last kisses
- The feel of the sun when it comes through a window
- Crisp autumn mornings
- Having a Chinese takeaway (I mean, come on!)
- Getting caught in the rain then warming up over hot chocolate
- Friends
- The comfort smell of your mum (or closest loved one)
- Those nights you can't sleep because you're so excited for something
- The sound of rain
- The smell after rain
- Walking barefoot on grass
I used this list and turned it round into thinking, if I wasn't here, I'd never get to experience these things again. And I didn't want that. I wanted sunsets and fresh bread and to be in the sea again. It's easier to hold onto these little things. If you read that list and felt like you don't have these or have never experienced these things, they will come. Life is worth holding out for to experience the little things, sometimes it's very hard. But it is so worth it.
Stay strong, reach out if you need help, and be kind.
Shan x
A few months ago I came across a list online, from someone else grasping at straws and trying to find reasons to carry on, and it resonated with me. I loved it, and used that same strategy, it was just a list of little things that seem so silly in being able to help your low moods, but sometimes its the little things that we need. The bigger picture is too much to cope with. Trying to say "oh I'll be happier once I get out of my job" or "move house" "leave my toxic relationship" are heavy, dense things, they are big life changes that take a lot of energy to conjure up in your already very foggy mind. So this a little list of all the little moments that you should stay alive for.
This post also comes not too long after Caroline Flack's death. Something that has really, really, shaken me. I know she did wrong things, but she deserved better than this and her death has left this pang of guilt inside me for days, despite not contributing to any of the hate she has been given, I'm somehow left with a really heavy feeling inside of me and I really wanted to write something about it.
I see so many things going around about "being kind because you never know what goes on behind closed doors" but why is there never any other action than people retweeting a tweet with those words in? People are so cruel, and it is trendy to be cruel, it's trendy to be "savage" and "spill tea" on people and judge people for what they wear or what they do and it's not okay. It never has been okay but we are a society plagued with mental health right now and these things are killing people.
I'm not a Love Island fan but there's already been two suicides from that show, there was a photo going around Twitter of Molly Mae in a white swimsuit apparently being fat, whilst actually having a very slim body ???
As a society all we want to do is tear people down, and people are dying left, right and centre. They really are, and we need to stop being so cruel.
I don't know how many more wake up calls people need.
Someone dies and people preach about mental health and bullying all over the internet and then once it's blown over a few weeks down the line they're tweeting and trending about some girl who apparently has weird legs on TV!?
Then someone else dies and the cycle continues...
Anyway, here is my list of little pleasures that give you reasons to stay alive.
- Fresh bread
- Sunsets
- Long car rides
- Singing with your friends at the top of your lungs
- Drinking cheap wine and dancing in the kitchen
- Clean bed sheets and freshly shaven legs
- The feel of sand in your toes
- Those moments you feel completely infinite
- The smell of coffee
- Reading a book by a fire place
- Being in the ocean
- First kisses
- Last kisses
- The feel of the sun when it comes through a window
- Crisp autumn mornings
- Having a Chinese takeaway (I mean, come on!)
- Getting caught in the rain then warming up over hot chocolate
- Friends
- The comfort smell of your mum (or closest loved one)
- Those nights you can't sleep because you're so excited for something
- The sound of rain
- The smell after rain
- Walking barefoot on grass
I used this list and turned it round into thinking, if I wasn't here, I'd never get to experience these things again. And I didn't want that. I wanted sunsets and fresh bread and to be in the sea again. It's easier to hold onto these little things. If you read that list and felt like you don't have these or have never experienced these things, they will come. Life is worth holding out for to experience the little things, sometimes it's very hard. But it is so worth it.
Stay strong, reach out if you need help, and be kind.
Shan x
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