forum For those in need of Encouragement

Started September 10, 2019 by @Echo_6 group

tune

I got chills reading this! Thank you, my friend.

It's like I always say.
Purple prose is best used in the encouragement of others, not for describing Mary Sues.

Well, I'm back again, so here we go.

I don't know how many people on here know it, but I'm a Christian. I'm not scared to say it, because I'm not scared to get judged. I'm not gonna like preach to you or anything like that. You all have your own religions, and I respect that. But I just had to think today… my pastor was talking about how we're slaves to our sin. And all I could at that moment was how many people think they're slaves to something. Let me remind you. You don't have to be a slave to depression, or anxiety, or whatever. You are your own boss. And talking from experience, ignoring your own head when it's trying to tell you forty things all at once, is difficult. And it feels impossible to feel any glimmer of happiness when your head is telling you that there is no hope every second of every day. And when your head is constantly telling you and reminding you of all your failings and all the things that could go wrong, that gets hard to. But have you noticed something about all of these? They all have to do with your head. It's all mental! You don't have to listen to what your head is telling all the time. You can run a marathon, or climb a mountain. You could write a novel and a song. You could freaking run for president. The only thing stopping you is you. Go out make a difference! It's all mental. The only reason you couldn't do something was because you let your head tell you you couldn't. Well, I'm here to tell you, you can.

Thank you. I genuinely needed this today.

I knew there would come a time when I would need this. That's why I followed this thread when it had one post.

Words for you to remember:

You matter, don't listen to them. You have a purpose, no matter the pain. You are beautiful, down to every scar. Just Be You.

I've got something for you guys.
If you'd like to hear it.
I hope it doesn't trigger anyone, I'm really anxious about doing that somehow.

Say what you want to say, Shuri.

It's me. Been awhile since I've done one of these. Since I've done one like this. So um, I just want to say, I sit here in this dark room, surrounded. I can feel everything, my insecurities, my failures, my guilt, my shsme. All of it. They manifest themselves as demons. Hideous. All hideous. Some are small, like maggots, they eat away at my soul, like worms, infiltrating a piece of the forbidden fruit. They taint it and leave me feeling hollow, dirty even. Still others are enormous, like leviathan. How can I compare to things that tower over me, loom like dreadful towers with the capacity to make me shake.
And with all that going on, I asked myself.
"How can I ever feel well again?"
What's the goddamn point?
Why does anyone care?
I'm nothing.
End of story.
There's no hope.
Why even try.
How much deeper can I sink?
I'm already at the bottom, and dragging the ones I love with me. All of them.
But maybe. Just maybe.
And hear me out.
The only place I can go is up.
As I walk through Hell.
As I crawl on hands and knees through this murky, burning pit. I start to realize, that in some small part at least, happiness is something I control. I can't always control what happens to myself, but I can at least control what I do to help myself get better. I can establish a system of repetition and self-care. A means to help myself heal. One that my demons can not counter. I can use it. I can use that routine, to start a fire in my soul again. A torch. And when I've my inspiration back, I can conquer my demons with it. With those blazing tongues of hope I can make it.
I can cast my anxieties out from myself, I can finally breathe, stitch together my heart. And by the time they're back, I'll have shined my torch upon the demons that tower over me in the dark.
I can see them for what they really are. Mistakes. Mistakes I can scale to. Learn from.
And the best part?
When I'm finally out of that room, I can hand that torch onto others.
Like I have been.
And maybe, just maybe, they'll take it, and be better because of it.
I've found that the secret to creating the spark that lets you light the torch, is wanting to be whole again. Wanting to be free.
Sometimes the torch goes out. That's okay, a person can only stay hopeful for so long.
If you lose your fire, it's OK to ask for a bit of someone else's.
Maybe you two, or three, or more, can keep each other company.
And that's the first secret to the prosperity of humankind.
It's fire, like we've always suspected.
But not the kind you see, or hear, or feel with your body.
It's hope. And it can be hard to achieve, but we are all able to achieve it.

That was some good motivational writing, right there.

Thank you.

I… really like it, wow. I have nothing useful or otherwise contributive to say.

It took lots of crying and reflection to come up with, so thank

thank you, shuri. there's nothing else to say. i owe you a lot of things, shuri. thank you. <3

You don't owe me anything

oh, you have no idea how much we owe you, shuri.

@The_Warrior Thank you. I don't think I knew how much I needed this until I read it. Thank you so much.

Hey, so I was listening to music, and found a song with encouraging words, it's called "It's Not Over Yet" by for KING and COUNTRY. I'd suggest listening to it, it may lift your spirits.

I love those guys!!!! Their music is sooooo good!!!!!!

:) that's really cool!

So this is a bit of an odd thing for me to do, and I'm not sure how some of you will react to it. But this is a song a good friend of mine wrote and sung. He has others like it, but this one in particular just seemed more… encouraging, in a way I guess. You can listen to it if you choose to. The quality isn't the greatest but be fair he's doing this at his home and he's not a famous singer.

Soooo, I'm back. Not sure how many of you are still here to listen to me ramble on about how we can make a difference. Or that you all matter. Maybe I'm just talking to myself……

I don't have all the right words. I can't tell you that everything will turn out in the end because the truth of the matter is, life doesn't work that way. Things could be going completely right and you could have everything, and then have the rug ripped out from under your feet. You could be seventy five feet down in a hole that keeps getting deeper, and then have someone throw you a rope to get you out. And other times you just get left in a hole. That is slowly getting deeper. I can't fix that with my words. I could tell you that you'll be fine and you'll make it through and that things will get better. But having been on the receiving end of those words, they mean nothing. They mean nothing to some people. And words are powerful tools. If used incorrectly they can literally take a life. They can save one to, if used correctly. But even the most powerful tool can't fix everything. So I won't tell you all that because it's not necessarily true. That doesn't mean things will never get better. It just means that life doesn't work like a fairytale. The way your life is going right now, believe it or not, is getting you ready for something. Some day you'll look back on those really hard moments and think, "huh, that got me ready for this moment." But you know the only way for you to have the ability to look back, is to make it to the end still kicking.
Life sucks. It gets in the way of things you want to do, and loves throwing everything at you. Sometimes all at once. And, dammit, I hate the words "your fine", because if we were all fine then life on this earth is pointless. Our reason to be here is pointless. Every word coming out of my mouth right now is pointless. You're not alright. You're not fine. Things might not get better. So how the hell is this whole stupid thing supposed to be encouraging? I literally just told everyone that everything is pointless. But is it? Is it really pointless? I don't think so. I mean if it really was pointless, don't you think maybe the human race would be extinct by now? Maybe it is pointless, but you know what we as a human race tend to do when something is pointless? Like the Native Americans, they took dull pointless rocks and whacked them together a bunch of times to give one of them a point. We take something pointless and give it a point. We make it relevant. So how does this tie in to what I was saying before about how life sucks and I won't say that things will get better, because this whole thing seems all over the place, and this is a really long run on sentence, and quite honestly, I haven't gotten that far yet, I'll figure something out by the time I reach the end of this mess.
But wait there's more.
How I managed to get myself into this huge mess, I may never know. I started writing and we were off. I tend to ramble on about how we make a difference and if you've made it this far than you already know this. I've said it a few dozen times. But it's true. And I will harp on that for the rest of my life because if one person was able to create a lightbulb, and two learned how to fly, what can all of us do together? Our options are limitless. It doesn't matter what you look like, who your parents are, what your ethnicity happens to be, what color your skin is, what language you speak, or what slang you use when talking. That shouldn't matter. Y'all are perfect the way you are and your you in turn can make one tiny difference in the world. And guess what, the earth is 3,958.8 miles around. That makes up about 196.9 million miles of land on the surface of the earth. The population of earth right now is in the 7 billion range, billion with a B. Do you understand what that means? Probably not because it looks like too much math that I may have done for no reason. But that means that one human can cover approximately 0.028 miles of the earth each. That is 0.00000530303 of a mile. In english that means that isn't a mile. Okay, on average I can run over six miles in a day. And the average human can walk two or more miles in an hour. That means that one person's small difference can make a huge impact on the earth. We always see the negative things in the world and never seem to stop and look at the good that people are doing as well. That is why it seems like there is more depression and anxiety and the suicide ratings are higher. Because they are, because people are spreading negativity and not positivity. So be that one person that spreads positivity. I'll give you a little insight. Your positivity could save one person's life. And that could make them positive, and in turn they can make their family positive, and that can their friends positive. And you get where I'm going with this. One act of kindness or happiness, can brighten the whole world.
Alright I said I would have a way to tie this all together, at the end so here goes nothing. if you've read this far first of all thank you for taking time in your day to read my essay, and second of all, your life may not get better. You may have anxiety or depression or both, or a different mental disease, or an eating disorder. Maybe you just don't like the way you look. But that doesn't mean that you can't make a difference. You don't have to be famous, you don't have to make everyone like you. All you need to do is be you. The rest will just fall into place. No matter what life throws at you no matter how deep the hole, now matter what kind of garbage a sludge we have to crawl through, we make a difference. We can change the world by simply smiling at someone. Share a smile and receive a smile. You're life isn't pointless, and you should always strive to make it better. Even if life is going to keep firing at you. You can win first of all, and second of all, I will always be by your side to help you if you need it. Make a difference, be a light, make a point for yourself, don't let others get to you, and keep marching on.

Thank you for your time and I love all of you.

You have no idea how much that was needed right now, or how hard it hit. That was perfect. Thank you, like, 1000000 times over

Life can seem pretty unfair at times. For those of us with siblings, maybe you've been in trouble for something your sibling did. Maybe a loved one has died when they shouldn't have. Maybe you've been bullied, or abused. And what have you done to deserve this? Usually nothing. So why do all the bad things always happen to you? I don't know. I honestly couldn't tell you why. I can't tell you why that tornado ripped through and killed your grandparents. I couldn't explain why everything is your fault. I can't explain why people at school hate you. I don't know why you're being abused. Maybe sometimes bad things just happen. We can't control them.
I have had so many people come to me and say, "just tell me it will turn out." And I can't say that! I can't tell you a lie to make you feel better for a moment. I refuse to let you believe that it always gets better. Because it's a lie. Sometimes it doesn't get better. I mean, sure, some days things will look like it's getting better. But those are just moments. One moment. A moment.
What is it with moments? We always strive for those moments. "Just give us a moment." "One moment." I don't get that. Why do we strive for one moment. I'm going out on a limp here, and I'm gonna say. Strive for a day. Strive for a week. Strive for a month. And strive for a year. Not just a moment. A moment is for a memory, time is for forever. Do you know why I won't tell you that it will get better? Because on its own it won't. You have to do something about it to make it start getting better. If it isn't getting better, you make it get better. If I told you that it will get better, you aren't likely to make it get better, and then it won't. If you strive for more than a moment you can start that up hill climb. And I say climb instead of walk because, be honest, climbing can be a lot harder than walking at times. Be careful out there, and always keep going.

I love you, have a good day.

Life can seem pretty unfair at times. For those of us with siblings, maybe you've been in trouble for something your sibling did. Maybe a loved one has died when they shouldn't have. Maybe you've been bullied, or abused. And what have you done to deserve this? Usually nothing. So why do all the bad things always happen to you? I don't know. I honestly couldn't tell you why. I can't tell you why that tornado ripped through and killed your grandparents. I couldn't explain why everything is your fault. I can't explain why people at school hate you. I don't know why you're being abused. Maybe sometimes bad things just happen. We can't control them.
I have had so many people come to me and say, "just tell me it will turn out." And I can't say that! I can't tell you a lie to make you feel better for a moment. I refuse to let you believe that it always gets better. Because it's a lie. Sometimes it doesn't get better. I mean, sure, some days things will look like it's getting better. But those are just moments. One moment. A moment.
What is it with moments? We always strive for those moments. "Just give us a moment." "One moment." I don't get that. Why do we strive for one moment. I'm going out on a limp here, and I'm gonna say. Strive for a day. Strive for a week. Strive for a month. And strive for a year. Not just a moment. A moment is for a memory, time is for forever. Do you know why I won't tell you that it will get better? Because on its own it won't. You have to do something about it to make it start getting better. If it isn't getting better, you make it get better. If I told you that it will get better, you aren't likely to make it get better, and then it won't. If you strive for more than a moment you can start that up hill climb. And I say climb instead of walk because, be honest, climbing can be a lot harder than walking at times. Be careful out there, and always keep going.

I love you, have a good day.

I'd like to add a few things on to this, and that is that yes, you should always keep striving for a better life, a better world, a better future for the ones you love, but sometimes we all burn out, and that's okay. Sometimes you just have to have the patience, and they open-mindedness to just try to take care of yourself, and sometimes it's hard because you just want to keep going even though you've burnt outn or you can't do anymore, but sometimes it's essential just to take a step back, distance yourself, and ask yourself, "How badly do I want this?" Or "How can I act with both compassion, and a sober mind?" It's okay to take a step back to take care of yourself, and if you need a little help to do that, well then don't be afraid to get it because asking for help is one of the strongest things you can never do, so is crying, so is embracing your feelings. And yeah, you should definitely never stop trying, you should always persevere no matter what, even if things seem impossible because that's what makes a better world, and a better you, perseverance.
And also yes, neither can I, I can't tell you why you're being abused, why people at school hate you, why your siblings are being asses or why you're getting blamed for their mistakes, but I can tell you that correlation does not equal causation, and just because it's happening to you, doesn't mean that you deserve it. Certainly not. In fact what I found, is that most of the people who are going through Hell are some of the nicest you'll ever find. I'm assuming you're one of those people.
And not only that, but I would like to thank each and every one of you, for everything you have done to make this world a better place. I know it's hard to believe that when everybody's trying to push you below the surface, And acting like you don't matter but I assure you you do, and there's a place for you somewhere out there, you just have to find it. And that's really hard, and sometimes you fail, but success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm, until you get it right, and I believe all of you can succeed.

Thank you Shuri!

You as well

hey, you! yes, you, reading this. i love you, and i know today's been hard, and i know that not everything's going to be alright, but you can make it alright. find a space to yourself, sneak off to a bathroom or something, and find a way to make it okay for a moment. moments can add up, and maybe you can make it alright for long enough to believe it. until then, though, just know that i'm here for you. now, don't you have some more important kick-assery to return to?

Hey, it's me, coming to tell you several things. Some hard truths, and a few pleasantries too.

Life is cold as ice. It's cruel as a sneering devil. It's harsher than a cheese-grater wrapped in sandpaper and dusted with chili flakes. It's as unfair as a crooked scale. And that fucking sucks. But I'll tell you what.
The little things in our lives are truly beautiful. Christmas/Hanukkah morning(s), snuggling with your pupper, helping family, friends and lovers, your favorite song? All of those things are truly precious, and you can take the good times when they find you, and enjoy the little things as you barrel through the bad times. And when you find the good times again, you can relish the first moments babes. Every. Single time! It's truly beautiful, despite all the darkness. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. Far from it in fact. But we'll address that later.

Life can only be managed, not cured outright. Depression and anxiety can be triumphed against, but they can always come back with a passion, and tragedy sneaks up on even the most vigilant of us all. But we can manage them, and a healthy pinch of self-care, distraction, and indulgence, while it won't fix everything, can certainly help. And askimg for help can be hard, but it's one of the strongest things anyone can do, and people are often happy to help, sometimes they help others to help themselves.. And so is crying, embracing your feelings, and restraining yourself from taking flight on someone who needs and deserves it. (But don't forget that sometimes you gotta do that lol.)

Sometimes things don't happen, unless you get up and make them happen. Shocker, I know. Sometimes they resolve themselves on their own, sometimes it takes going through Hell to even make progress, and that sucks ass, but when you get to the other side of the storm, and when you scale the cliff, you can help others to do so as well.
Now you probably notice I say that a lot. And I do.
Because it's important.
But that aside, there's always the prize of knowing you overcome the obstacle. And the relief that comes with it.

Life is short, it goes by in the blink of an eye. But that doesn't mean you should just be impulsive or brash. Quite the opposite.
It means you should play your cards right, focus on yourself, but focus on making a difference and building a future for the ones you love. Look I'm sure there are a million billion people you can take specific academic and career advice that could blow my life experience out of the damn water. Which brings me to my next few points.

Everyone needs a childhood. Everyone needs to have fun, learn, grow, develop, change, and learn to cope with being a mess, and don't get me wrong, that doesn't stop at childhood, but it's where it's often the strongest. Being more mature than your peers because of trauma isn't fucking cool like how media portrays it, it means you need a hug, a coloring book, and a few episodes of Spongebob. And it can have ita perks, but ultimately being unprepared for failure leaves you wide open for burn-outs, and panick. That can be a cycle that feeds back into itself and it sucks like Hell.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone fucks up, everyone screws the pooch of life. But just remember not to beat yourselves up. The important thing is to always, always learn from it. Let every lesson stick with you, not the bad feelings. Now it's hard to do that, seperate the anxiety and guilt/shame from the logical lesson, but it can be done. All in all, I recommend meditation.

Life is complicated, complex, circumstantial, and relative. It's random. The only solidity to life is science and facts. It's too damn circumstantial and chaotic and that can be very daunting. So trust in science, and try to be the best person you can. Just remember one thing! You can't compare apples to oranges, and judging someone when you don't understand the whole story is entirely foolish. I tend to accidentally do this a lot, and I'm definitely correcting it but it's gonna take some time. One thing can apply to me that is the opposite to another person, and is only 29.7878% true for another, and for another only a single thing remains the same.

Now I've got a few quotes to live by and they won't apply to all of you, so my apologies. Let's just get the ones by Churchill outta the way…
"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope.”
“We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.”
“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

And MLK Jr….
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
"The time is always right to do what is right."
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"

And Ghandi…
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

And Chavez…
"We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure."

And Lao Tzu…
"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."
"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."

And here's a grab-bag of unknowns I simply love…
"You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder."
"If they spit at you behind your back, it only means you are ahead."

Well that's all the quotes. Thank you very much.
And here's a song

I feel like these are getting a little repetitive, because honestly I am running out of things to say y'all. And that's just a testament to the fact that I am also human. I say stupid things sometimes….. A lot of times….. All the time…. Okay maybe not all the time. But I'm not perfect by any stretch. I don't believe that anyone on the Earth is. We're all unfortunately humans. And, in the words of Sid the Sloth, "Humans are disgusting." Which in some cases yeah, we are disgusting vile creatures, who are not only mean to other creatures living on the Earth, but we're also dirtbags to each other.
That being said, we can also be the nicest things on planet Earth as well. For example, personal story. I was being harassed by a bunch of teenage boys, that were making an attempt to flirt with me. It was making me uncomfortable and I had no way to get out of the situation. Then a group of people that I knew and I thought hated me, came over and made it very clear that that group of boys was not to mess with me. And all they did was come over and start talking to me, like I was their best friend. That is also a testament to the fact that you can't just assume that people hate you. My biggest problem at school was that no one knew how to react to me, so they didn't know how to act around me. And that came off as them not liking, and some seemed like they hated me. Come to find out later that not all of them actually hated me, there were some that did actually hate me, and there are just people like that. They just didn't know how to react.
The world is so full of such different people. People that can do some amazing things, and some people that can do the simplest, most impactful things. I think a big problem with our society today, is that we don't look at the small things people are doing. And a small thing can have a huge impact. One act of kindness can change a chain of people's lives. And yes, I'm harpin' on it again. You make a difference. I am likely to harp on that for the rest of my life. And the reason for that is that people seem so fixated on the mindset that, "Oh, my small seed won't do anything."
And to that I say FALSEHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ya, ever heard of a mustard seed? Do you know how small those seeds are? 1 to 2 millimeters! They're tiny. And how big do they grow? Anywhere between 6 and 20 feet tall. Tiny little seed, Giant plant.
So yeah, you're tiny gift can have a big impact. And I will argue that to my dying breath. And if you still don't believe it, I will come back from the dead and haunt you with the words "You make a difference."
But you know, we weren't created to be alone. I don't know about you, but even though I like to have some me time, I also like being to have my friends and family with me. I like the idea of a loving husband that helps out raising a farm and teaching our kids to build, draw, cook. I like this idea, because it mean I won't be alone. We can do some things with two hands. But it is so much easier to do it with four, or six hands. And no that doesn't mean go get four more arms surgically attached to your body. That is a weird image in my head and it just doesn't look right. So just don't. Get a husband or wife, or friends, or family. And when I say husbands and wives, I mean that no matter the type of relationship. If you're happy with a person of your same sex, that's fine. The point is that we weren't designed to be alone. We were designed to be with others. So that when you can't do something by yourself they can step in and help you.
So to wrap this all up and tie it with a ribbon for Christmas, Imma leave y'all with this…
You can't make everyone happy, people will just straight up not like you. You make a difference! And you're not alone. So even though some people don't like you, that doesn't mean that everyone hates you. You can always find that one person that is like you and wants to be your friend, or soul mate.

I love y'all so much. Now I gotta go to sleep because I have school in the morning and it's midnight here. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Every human makes a difference. Few of us are fortunate to be objects of progression and change in history, but every little one of us has the power to bend it in the right direction just a little, tiny microscopic bit of a smidgen oh, and that counts.