<ul><li>Emotions are tricky little bastards.</li><li>Their presence feels all-consuming, to the point that you believe they’re apart of you.</li><li>You start to believe you don’t “feel sad” but instead you “are sad.”</li></ul>

You are not sad just feeling sad for a little time

<ul><li>You can give someone the tools to heal, but all that does is start the healing.</li><li>The process of healing will take time, regardless of how much you try to rush it.</li><li>But in that is a bit of hope, too; the assurance in knowing something as simple as time can drastically change the course of your life.</li></ul>

Give Yourself TIME

Even though I fought for control, life still had its curveballs.<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">No matter what anyone does to set themselves up to thrive, things happen.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Key to making it through life’s obstacles isn’t by fighting every possible chance of sadness that comes your way; it’s about learning to dance.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Dance means, having the tools to help yourself on the days you’re down.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Build relationships as your support system. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Accepting that it’s OK to not feel OK.</li></ul>

Learn to dance with life

<ul><li>Focusing on how far you have to go can feel disheartening. </li><li>But if you can commit to taking tiny steps forward, one day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come.</li></ul>

Tiny is good 

<ul><li>I need to check-in with myself to make sure I’m not slipping back into my disordered eating way.</li><li>I have to monitor whether I’m feeling like myself and, if not, I need to be the one to do something about it.</li><li>If I wait around for someone else to notice, it’ll be too late.</li><li>I’ll be back at square one. But that’s OK.</li><li>I’m always going to be the person who can take care of and prioritize my needs best.</li></ul>

It is always me 

<ul><li>The pursuit of happiness is a fallacy. You can be happy right now, at this moment.</li><li>There’s no end destination where you’ll finally catch up to the happiness train and ride it into the eternal bliss sunset.</li></ul>Society puts so much pressure on people being happy:<ul><li>Choose a job that brings you joy but also a partner that does the same.</li><li>Workout because your cortisol levels will decrease</li><li>have plenty of sex so your serotonin increases.</li><li>Have hobbies you love and friends you love more.</li><li>Because all of this combined will ensure your happiness.</li></ul>When you focus your attention too much on anything, you’re bound to smother it. Happiness shouldn’t be a part-time job but, rather, a byproduct of just having fun with life.

Just be happy 

It’s been two and a half years since I thought about killing myself. That’s up there as one of my personal records I’m most proud of, next to that time I won my Kindergarten classes’ art fair. I…