Every single day I feel like dying. Waking up feels like hell. Going to school, feeling judged every time I walk past the halls. Rumours spreading around about me. I feel like my life is a game. I feel like my parents think I’m a burden. They always yell at me because I always screw up. I get called ugly, stupid, etc. My friends are slowly by slowly disappearing. People I loved are gone. I remember being happy. I have these dreams that I save people from people like me. I have very realistic dreams that feel so real. I have experienced sleep paralysis. Everyday feels like a battle. Everyday is a surprise. Sometimes I feel unstoppable then I run into an obstacle. Life is comical, beautiful, and horrible. I want to be better but I realized very quickly that me being happy was never going to happen again. I have tons of family issues. I feel happy for five minutes and than it’s gone. I’m sick, I know that. Everyone is scared of me. Sometimes when your heart breaks we just put a band aid around it expecting it to heal. Maybe we should start picking up the pieces and when we do we see a bridge. The bridge is the most broken bridge you might have ever seen, but you still have to walk that bridge. But sometimes I feel like that bridge doesn’t exist anymore for me. The bridge hates me. I really want to be better. Please help me.
CONSIDER THIS:
- Experiencing many obstacles in life can make you feel hopeless and alone. You are strong for enduring your struggles alone and making an honest effort to get the help you deserve.
- If you need someone to talk to, you can go to the Teen Central website and click the Help tab to call a hotline or textline. Knowledge is power. You can click the Learn tab to read about Bullying, Depression, Suicide, Spirituality and Suicide among others. Click the Tools tab to download resources like Support Plan, Positive Reminder, Yoga Pose, Positive Talk and more. Click the Stories tab if you’d like to read stories submitted by other teens. You may also speak to a trusted therapist, school counselor or religious leader about your problems.
- You can be positive by repeating positive affirmations to yourself whenever you feel negative. Be hopeful, and keep yourself from spiralling out of control, by always having something to look forward to. Read inspirational quotes and/or write down a few things you’re grateful for in a daily journal.
- Instead of seeing your problems in a negative way, you can let them make you a stronger person. View your struggles as challenges that will make you a better, happier human being. Rise above petty situations and cruel people. It’s more difficult for people to bring you down when you’re stronger and wiser.
- Good parents love their children unconditionally. Unfortunately, not everyone has good parents. You can think about how everyone has problems and for your parents, these can include causing problems for other people. You can have hope by realizing that you don’t deserve to be treated badly, and everything happens for a reason. For example, you can learn and grow from your bad experiences if you turn them into something positive.
- You can be yourself by expressing your feelings and doing the activities you genuinely enjoy. Creativity can help you express yourself in a healthy way and be yourself more. Creative activities include drawing, coloring in a coloring book, listening to music, creative writing, playing a musical instrument and many more.
- Keeping appropriate boundaries is vital to a person’s health and well-being. For example, if someone makes you uncomfortable, you have the right to say no in any situation and even end your relationship. This applies to friends, family and everyone else. If you can’t get completely away from someone you don’t trust, you can find something else to focus on (homework, art project, etc.) or head somewhere else (library, park, etc.).
- Spirituality can bring meaning into your life, help you accept the things you can’t change, understand that everything happens for a reason, make you feel less alone and have peace of mind. Spiritual techniques include prayer, yoga and meditation. You can even try attending church services.
- You can practice self-care on a regular basis by taking care of your mind, body and spirit. This includes eating healthier, exercising regularly, doing the positive things you enjoy and practicing spirituality among other things.
- Volunteering can help you take your mind off your own issues, live a more meaningful life and help those less fortunate. You can volunteer to serve meals at a soup kitchen, write letters to people with depression, take care of animals at a local pet shelter, train to be a counselor or plant trees among others. Besides this, consider fostering or adopting a pet to give it a loving home. You can find volunteer opportunities online or in your area by visiting websites like Volunteermatch.
- You can motivate yourself to improve your life by reading inspiring stories about heroes, activists or people who’ve overcome their struggles, and by committing to having a positive mindset.
- Finally, it is important to seek some professional help. Please tell a trusted adult what is going on and ask for help. If that adult does not help you, find another one. If you don’t get the help, ask your school counselor to help you. It is very hard to go through this alone, and although you have many great ideas to manage very difficult emotions, knowing a professional counselor is there to help guide you can be very comforting.
HELP YOURSELF:
- In what ways can taking small steps towards living a better life each day improve your outlook now and in the long run?
- How can having genuine friends and family who love and respect you as yourself change your life for the better?
- How can living a more meaningful life by volunteering to help those less fortunate and doing other positive activities help you know how important your own life is?
- Can you make a list of many of the reasons why your life matters?
- What are some things you can learn from the problems life puts in your path?
- How can you prepare yourself to open up to a counselor?
