Anonymous
Photography by Yan Liu
If you're reading this, you deserve to be happy.
Honestly, we all have times when we want to give up. The unhappiness gets to us. We get down about grades, our family life, our love life, etc. Whatever it is though, it will pass. That feeling of sadness inside you is only temporary. You are more than that one thing you let define yourself. You are human. Sometimes when I feel down about myself I think, this is rock bottom. But there's only one way out of rock bottom, and that's up.
When Covid first hit, I was going through a tough time. My feelings and emotions got the best of me and my only distraction was seeing my friends. When that got taken away, I felt stuck. It wasn't until I reached out for help to my friends and really explained to them what I was going through. At that time, I was truly hurt. I was upset, angry and would blame myself constantly. I'd wake up sad and go to sleep sad. It's been two and half years since that point. Sometimes I can't believe that I was hurting that much, but like I said before, it was only temporary. I let that time be a learning lesson for me. I control what comes into my life, the words I take and the people in my life.
We are all in charge of what we make of ourselves, and sometimes we slip up, and that's okay. We're allowed to make mistakes, we're not robots. Sometimes the competition with other people really gets to us. You need to just take a deep breath and know that everyone is on a different path. You deserve to be happy. You deserve whatever makes you happy. I learned that it comes down to blocking out the negatives in your life, getting help when you know you need it, and cutting out the people/things that bring you down. Always put your best foot forward, and even if you can't sometimes, that's okay. You'll always be okay.
Anonymous, Virginia Commonwealth University
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