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Give yourself credit for still being here, for still showing up in the world—every day, no matter what the world throws at you, you’re still here.

It’s so easy to feel inadequate right now. To feel like you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing. To feel like you’re not doing enough. Like you aren’t enough. Just generally feeling bad about yourself.

But you need to give yourself more credit. This sh*t’s hard. Really hard.

No matter how young or old you are, you’re dealing with an insane amount of sh*t right now.

And it sucks. A lot.

And it seems like it’s never going to end.

But you’ve lived through two years of a global f*cking pandemic. Two years. Think about all the pandemic and plague and zombie apocalypse movies you’ve ever seen. Most of those people were dead in the first days and weeks. Only the strong and lucky survived.

That’s you. You’re the strong. You’re the lucky. You’ve survived.

We’ve been doing all of this for so long now that it’s kind of hard to remember that this (all of this) is actually quite abnormal.

Every day there are new fires that have to be put out. Every. Single. Day. For two years.

And they’re not just little fires. They’re massive, crazy, out-of-control fires (literal and figurative). Things that aren’t just in other places of the world; they’re in your home, in your workplace, in your front yard, in your neighborhood. They’re everywhere. There’s something unbelievably crazy happening every single day to demand your immediate attention. Every. Single. Day.

But every day, even when it seems like it’s going to kill you, it doesn’t. Every day you find a way to get through it. Every day you’re still here and living for the next one.

You are still here.

And you are strong.

You are doing everything that you can and everything that you should be right in this moment. And you matter to so many people around you. You are loved and you are important.

And it’s not just the last two years; you’ve survived so much more. I may not know the details, but I know your life hasn’t been easy. Stop for a minute and think about that. Think about everything that you’ve been through and all that you’ve survived.

You may have thought that you wouldn’t find your way out of it. But you did. You managed to live another day, and it may feel some days like you’re just barely clinging to life, but all you have to do is get through that day and then the next one is a fresh start.

Some days you’ll survive, but others you’ll thrive.

It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.

This sh*t really is hard. Just be a little easier on yourself. Don’t give up yet.

v

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