Hey. I know the world is a tough place right now. I know it can seem bleak and hopeless and you may feel desperately, brokenly alone. I know the news can feel like an avalanche of hate and strangers can be terrible far more often than they should. But I also know something else.

I know you are loved. I know that you are worthy of love and dignity. I know you are worth the breath in your lungs and the light that the world can be so bad at reflecting back sometimes. I know that while there are moments that hurt, there are also moments worth living for. I believe in the power of a heart, the worth of creativity, and the value of a human life.

And I believe in you.

If you have to, take the day one breath at a time. Listen to songs that bring you joy. Ask for help if you need it. Reach out to hotlines, and friends, and family if they're a support. Take a deep breath, and remind yourself you're a survivor. Pet cats. Pet dogs. Go to the zoo with a child and absorb their wonder. Read a book that brings you joy. Write about your happiest memory. Write seven reasons to stay alive. Make yourself one of them.

Forgive yourself for mistakes. Look at beautiful art. Create art. Let yourself cry. Take deep breaths. Remind yourself you're allowed to feel.

Take care of yourself.

I love you.

Hey. Hey you. I'm glad you're alive. You exist in this world for a reason, and the best part is that you get to create it.

Explore things that catch your eye. Research everything that brings you joy. Listen to music that gives you hope. Build a better world. Your purpose isn't waiting in someone else's ideas. It dwells inside of you.

Every time you sigh with wonder, take note. Every breath that fills you with joy, remember. Those moments can be the ones that define you.

Find hope in your survival. Find light in the fact you haven't given up. Let your successes help you grow, and your failures help you innovate.

Take life a day at a time. Don't take moments in stride. Explore wonder. Be wonder. Build movements.

Grow in every moment. Challenge yourself. Strive for what is out of reach. Believe in your potential. You matter, and you can make a difference.

I love you.

Hey. Hey you. I want you to know that you matter. No matter how alone you feel, know that every smile and every kind word you have uttered has brought light into the lives of others.

Today, I want you to increase that count of joy. Even if it's just with one small interaction, it has meaning. Message someone you love and tell them something you love about them. Call a favorite person and tell them you appreciate them. No matter how small, it makes the other person's day that much brighter.

Radiate a bit of joy today, even if it's hard to feel it yourself. Ask for help if you need it. Bring joy and love and receive the same in return, even if it's just from a voice on the other side of a hotline.

Don't let fear stop you from living.

I love you.

Hey you. I want you to know that your dreams matter, and your hopes for the future. Hope is the surest way to save a life, so find things to hope for.

What do you want to achieve? What is your private fantasy? What do you dream of, late at night, when you stop telling yourself it's impossible? Visualize it. Make it breathable. Then do something small toward it. Walk forward.

Walk forward. Who do you want to be, in this moment? Without your past, without your baggage, without your self-doubt, who do you want to be right now? Breathe in the dream. Breathe out the doubt. Walk forward.

Walk forward. What is the most beautiful place you've never been? How can you get there? What can you do right now toward that? One day at a time, build your dreams. Walk forward.

I love you.

Hey you. I know the world is sometimes so dark you forget the meaning of light, and I want you to know that light still exists anyway. Even if it's the flashlight on your cellphone struggling to burn a hole in the dark. Even if you've forgotten why you want to try to find it. There is light, and one of these days your eyes will adjust to see it.

The hurt doesn't go away. Not exactly. But the edge dulls, and the fear cracks and slowly begins to crumble. The shadows are just there to distinguish the light, though they cover nearly everything at first.

Then the sun begins its rise, one long, slow ray at a time. Second by second, moment by moment, the sky begins to come alive. Every time the sun sets, it will eventually rise. So take it one ray of light at a time.

I love you.

Hey you. Even in the moments where it feels like light and life has left you, remember you are not alone. When the sun only serves to highlight the emptiness, remember it just makes room for new things to fill and heal you. Reach out your hand, and reach out your voice.

Compliment a stranger’s clothes. Hold open a door for someone in a hurry. Little gestures can save a day, both for you and the one you are offering them to.

Dress to impress, even if the one you’re trying to impress is yourself. You are worth the effort.

Take yourself on a date. Do all the things that you most love and that most heal you. Eat your favorite foods. Draw, or watch a movie, or listen to that song you love that you’ve had stuck in your head for weeks. Find a quote that moves you. Put it on your wall.

Think of all the once-impossible things that have been achieved. Flight. The internet. Even the printing press. Set your own “impossible” goal, and start turning it into reality.

Page through a magazine and find a picture of something beautiful. Take a picture of yourself and find something beautiful in it. Make something beautiful, whether it’s a drawing or a bracelet or a movement.

Breathe. You are not alone.

I love you.

This fall, become more you. Let the cooling weather strip away the parts of yourself you no longer need. Let the shorter days take all your doubts and limiting beliefs. And as the leaves flame and then fall, let too your passions flame and your goals tumble before you. Focus, and do more than be. Become.

I love you.

Hey you. I want you to know you matter. Whether you believe this is one in a series of lives, or, like me, believe this is all we've got, we're alive in this moment so let's own it.

Today, eat foods that fill you with joy and leave you glowing with health. Take a walk. Stare at the beauty of nature. Find joy in being here and being alive. No matter how tough things are right now, you've survived to this moment, and that's something worth being proud of.

Honor your body. Take a moment to sit in it and find things you love about it. Find gratitude and wonder in its unceasing fight for life.

What is your happiest memory? What aspect of it can you recreate in your life in this moment?

We are but a flicker in time, so shine your brightest and outdazzle the stars.

I love you.

Whenever I notice a friend having a rough time, or they just wander through my mind, I like to send reminders of their importance to me.

So here's a friendly reminder for you:

You are worth more than the scars on your skin and the pain behind your eyes. They would have you believe you are nothing, but the atoms that form the people you love think they're nothing too, even as you see the galaxies spiraling in every smile. You are matter and light, and that matter has a place in this universe.

I love you.

Hey you. I want you to know it's okay to hurt. I know sometimes grief and pain feel like they can swallow you whole, but remember every feeling is transient, good or bad. Allow yourself to feel your emotions while realizing they won't always be there in the same form.

Allow yourself to cry if you need to. Ask for hugs when you want them. Speak to friends. Seek the distractingly beautiful.

Give yourself a sense of purpose through a goal you want to achieve. Maybe it's a dream you've had for a while you've delayed for others. Maybe it's just to breathe through the next ten minutes. Whatever the goal, let it motivate your survival.

More than anything, remember this: You are not alone.

I love you.

When I was a child, I thought of every sunrise as a new beginning. Today, remember that it can be. With every breath of dawn, you can find another chance.

There is so much beauty in the world, and people can be just as kind as they can be cruel. Remember the last time someone held a door from you when your hands were full. Remember the first time you heard reassurance that pain wasn't forever. I remember clearly the first time someone told me it was going to be okay with genuine care in their voice. I was fifteen, crying on a bed in a boarding school. I will never forget how it felt to know someone cared. Reassure someone else today, and know: as long as you are alive, there is hope.

I love you.

Hey you. I know life can be difficult and overwhelming sometimes. Today, remember that everything has seasons.

Stress is not forever. Struggle is not forever. Overwhelm is not forever. Sometimes it feels like everything is going wrong all at once and there's no hope, but remember: it's a season. It doesn't have to be a life.

So take that season minute by minute. Remember the cyclical nature of time and experiences, but also that every time you face the harder seasons you do so a little older and wiser, and that every hard season has an end.

Minute by minute, continue to grow.

I love you.

Hey you. I know sometimes it's difficult to just get out of bed. Know you're not alone in that. Maybe everything hurts, maybe it's even hard to find hope in sunrise, but you're not alone. There are others struggling like you who understand.

So look for community. Search the internet for other folks with chronic illness, or depression, or whatever is making it hard to get through the day. Find people who share your struggles, and find people who share your passions. Getting through the day is so much easier with others who understand.

More than anything, be willing to be vulnerable where it is safe to. You'll be surprised how many people can relate.

I love you.

Hey you. It's easy to feel alone and to fear vulnerability, but reaching out is the only way to truly connect. Today, I want you to reach out to someone you admire. Tell them why. Tell them the struggles of theirs you relate to, and how in overcoming them they taught you to overcome your own. Tell them the things you find special in them, and the things they've taught you to value in yourself.

We're all human, and sometimes it's messages like that that keep people alive. Whether it's your best friend or a celebrity you admire, when you're willing to be vulnerable and authentic with another, you forge connection and provide hope. We all get our share of hate throughout life. Be a moment of joy to your favorite person today.

I love you.

Hey you. The past is past. All the stories you have about your mistakes are no longer needed. Take a deep breath. Breathe out the recriminations. You are here, and here is the moment when your life begins.

And let me tell you a secret: While you're alive, there can always be another here to begin in. So today, forgive yourself. You're alive in this moment, so make it a good one. You deserve it.

I love you.

Hey you. I want you to know that you matter. Life can be dark and hard sometimes, but you bring light. Even when it seems but a flicker, you can light the world. Every fire starts from a spark, and a spark rests inside you.

So take a deep breath. Fan that flame. And when you're ready, take on the night.

I love you.

Hey you. If you need a reason to stay alive today, let this be it. And, too, let these words provide some healing. The words may just be pixels on a screen, but the person on the other side believes in you.

So breathe in. You're alive for a reason.

I love you.

Hey you. Today is a day for joy, so find the most beautiful piece of art you can, whether it's a painting or a child's smile or a cat purring. Allow the sight to fill you with wonder, and remember that joy can suffuse your entire being if you let it.

Fill your heart and mind so full of wonder you radiate it into the world around you. Your life is yours to build, so build something worthy of your dreams.

I love you.

Hey you. I know sometimes it's easy to be hard on yourself or ashamed, but know this: We've all got parts of our past we wouldn't repeat. That's why they're there, in the rear view, not here in the present, and that's okay. Even if it's the recent rear view, you're here in the now, and now is a new beginning.

Don't let your past write your present.

I love you.