Ten little things I'd wish somebody had told me when I needed to hear them. So let me be that somebody for you.
1) I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for being here and for trying, even if you might have given up at some point. I'm proud of you even if nobody else is and you don't see a reason why.
2) Any form of self harm is valid and bad "enough". It doesn't matter how you did it or if it left any permanent marks. You deserve to recover, no matter if anyone else is doing worse.
3) I might not know who you are, but I am sure you are a better person than you might think. You deserve to be loved and you are a beautiful being.
4) It's okay if you only self harmed for a little time, you still deserve to recover. But if you struggled for many years (like me) it's still possible to recover.
5) Someone loves you, someone cares for you. Maybe they just don't know to express it, but there always are people to whom you are important.
6) It's okay to relapse and it's also okay if you aren't instantly clean again after that. Your streak ended but that doesn't destroy your progress. Recovery isn't linear at all, there are ups and downs and that's normal.
7) It doesn't matter how you look, as what you identify, what you believe in, where you are from or what you've done and said in the past. You deserve to live a happy life and you deserve people that help you getting out of any bad times.
8) Having scars doesn't make you ugly. You are beautiful just the way you are. You don't need to hide (if you don't want to), there is no reason to be ashamed.
9) I know it might seem like there is nothing left to live for, but there will be. I've been there too often, I know how it feels, but please try to hang in there. Better times will come eventually, someday life can be fun again. Recovery really is worth all the struggle.
10) You are not your trauma and what happened to you isn't your fault. Not everything happens for a reason, sometimes good people just go through awful things they don't deserve.
YOU ARE READING
It does get better.
PoetryPeople say it will get better. But to be fair, most of them never were in your place. They say you will get happy again, but how can they know? I've struggled with trauma, mental illnesses and self harm for many years. These are (mostly) poems - abo...
