one . say the words out loud, kill them with their own poignancy; pull the bones from beneath the letters and break them.
two . speak calmly, like everything is okay because everything is okay, and everything will be okay. you’re okay.
three . let the tears come, do not hold them in. open the floodgates, watch the power of monsoons, they can level cities. you can help rebuild them in the aftermath.
four . remember it is not your fault. it is never your fault.
five . sometimes you may feel like screaming from the rooftops but also that you are too broken to open your mouth. you might feel like losing the hand to save the arm but know that each time a muscle breaks it grows back together even stronger.
six . let someone in. it is not a sign of weakness to have help building your levees. the water will flow anyway, isn’t it a better idea to have stronger defenses?
seven . all of your problems are relative. they will solve themselves eventually; don’t sit at the oceans edge looking for the other side, don’t become driftwood. build a raft and float.
eight . there will be days where you feel like you can’t make the bed without crawling back into it and there will be days when you what to whittle away the bark of yourself to make something more beautiful. to carve out pieces of your own heart to throw away, as if you weren’t beautiful to begin with.
nine . you are beautiful to begin with.
ten . learn to stomach your own demons, learn from them. do not fear your own company. each time you feel like the world is a building falling down around you —— inspect the foundations, see just how deep they run under your skin. you will beat this. it is not your fault.