You Deserve Better

Sounds cheesy, right? As much as we like to tell ourselves that it’s true, for people with Anxiety and/or depression, that’s a difficult concept to grasp. You know what? Scratch that, this statement is true for, probably, most people. Everyone, no matter who they are, doubts themselves and that is normal.

We can sit on the sidelines and tell someone to just be happy. And let me tell you, we want to be happy, more than you can even imagine. But we have a voice in our head that tells us we will never be happy, we don’t deserve it, and no one will ever love us. That’s a hard thing to imagine.

We walk a fine line between sad and total devastation. Depression can be crippling. It sucks the energy out of you. Getting up and moving, at times, seems like it will be the final crack that will break you into a million pieces. Faking a smile takes so much that you don’t know how you can give any more. You start to feel as though disappearing would be the best thing for everyone.

But as real as all of those, and many more thoughts feel, they aren’t true. We are worthy of love. People do care. Maybe there were people that you had to let go, and walk away from without looking back. As sad as that can be, it was probably for the best. I think of the people that I’m no longer friends with and I honestly don’t think they were my friends. Well, there was one, and sadly she is gone. As often as I think how lonely it is without friends, it is worse to be lonely with friends.

Being alone is hard, but you deserve more. Social media can be bad, toxic, and soul-sucking. People online feel strength in being mean just because no one will know who they are. For those of us who take everything to heart, the internet can be a cruel, cold place. I have found Reddit to be hilarious and Facebook draining. X, formerly Twitter, is cruelty in its finest form. I can’t do it, so I don’t. Youtube is awesome. Yes, there are areas that are toxic but I stay away from those. I have a long history of cute animal videos, cooking shows and BTS. Yes, I am an Army. But before you laugh, they are amazing. They encourage you to love yourself. Which is something foreign to me.

Everything is so negative. The news is filled with war, conflicts, people hating and hurting each other. It’s too much sometimes. How do we cope? We are already dealing with so much pain within ourselves, having to also navigate the political and social negativity in the world can be too much.

Take a breath, turn off the bad stuff and feel the stress leave your body. Listen to music that calms you down, read a book, or watch some funny cat videos. You don’t deserve to feel sad and alone. You need more than the emptiness that threatens to swallow you whole. Find things to do that you can look forward to. If you can’t think of anything, reach out and we can come up with something together.

Take care and stay safe!